Dead End Job
by SilentStarlightSky
Summary: Office Workplace AU - Squall is a quiet, but reliable employee at his boring 9 to 5 job. Too bad he can barely stand working there, but all that changes when Rinoa gets hired as the new receptionist. Squinoa (All the other characters are here too.) UPDATED on May 10th!
1. Chapter 1

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

He closed his eyes for a moment before focusing on the glowing computer screen in front of him. Maybe if he focused hard enough he could block out all the little office sounds that his cubicle walls could not.

 _Focus,_ he thought.

Slurp. Gulp.

Tap. Tap.

Creak.

Tap.

Creak.

Tap. Tap.

Gulp.

Tap.

Suck.

Tch. Tch.

 _Focus._

He tried to not visualize where the sounds were coming from, but he couldn't help it. They were too familiar to him.

He could too easily imagine Zell in his cubicle sipping loudly at his scorched coffee, the liquid gulping down his throat in irregular intervals. Selphie twisting in her swivel chair while tapping her fingernails on her desktop in a quick staccato, almost in rhythm, but not quite. Irvine trying to recline too far in his chair, pushing the cheap office furniture to its limits. Seifer sucking on his teeth, for who knows why.

Didn't these people do any work?

He took a deep breath and raked his fingers through his hair, nearly wanting to pull the brown strands out by the roots.

Squall was going crazy and it was only Monday at 10 am.

But hair pulling was out of the question because that would be unprofessional, and he was a good employee even if he hated his job. He continued to clack away at his keyboard, his inner turmoil unknown to everyone around him.

"Good morning team," Quistis spoke in a clear voice that carried over the gray felt cubicle walls. Her voice had an air of authority and she pronounced each syllable so fully it was like she was teaching a class. In another life she could have been an university professor, teaching upper level classes on biochemistry to giant auditoriums full of students. "We're going to be welcoming a new person into our midst today. I want everybody to make sure and greet the new receptionist... whenever the person decides to arrive," she added with a quick glance at the clock on the wall. Any good student of hers would definitely follow her instructions.

"She better be hotter than the last receptionist," Seifer called out from the cubicle adjacent to Squall's. Seifer probably was never a good student.

Squall shook his head imperceptibly at the comment.

Seifer Almasy, sales representative. He was one of the loudest person in the office, and he just happened to have the cubicle directly across from Squall's. Squall tried to keep his eyes on his work and ignore Seifer, but Seifer wasn't the sort of person who could be ignored. Even the act of ignoring him took up nearly 100% of a person's energy. He just took up more space than a normal person. He projected that he was more than the sum of his parts, and his parts were big enough to begin with as he was one of the tallest people in the office.

Squall couldn't even ignore Seifer's _cubicle_. It was too noticeable and heavily personalized. And even though the walls were covered, it didn't feel cluttered, it was just filled to the brim with his personality, his Seifer-ness. Photos of Seifer fishing with his friends in different settings were pinned up to a corkboard. A big wall calendar featuring a retro fantasy movie hung beside his computer monitor, and several overly fancy and expensive pens were scattered across the hard desk surface. It was clear whose cubicle it was. He'd marked his territory.

In contrast, Squall's cubicle was easy to ignore as it looked like it belonged to nobody. It was empty of anything personal. Only work related supplies and paperwork were to be found. Nothing to liven up the dull grayness of felt cubicle walls and his computer set up. Even his pens were the basic gray plastic ones that he got from the company supply closet. They didn't work very well and the black ink tended to dry up and get sticky, but that's what the company provided. He didn't think he should question that. It wasn't his business, in more than one sense of the word.

Was he loyal to the company? Did he have to be? He did his job, and he got his paycheck. That seemed to be a fair trade. But if he got up and quit this job, nobody would even know he'd been there based on what he left behind. He could leave at any time. Well, he could if he didn't want to keep earning money that provided him with food and shelter. And he needed those things to live. Too bad Squall liked living just enough to keep coming back to this place and dealing with these people, these characters.

"I hope we don't have to go over our company's sexual harassment policy with anybody," Quistis said in Seifer's direction, "again," she added.

Quistis Trepe, office manager. So many things could be said about her. Smart, beautiful, capable, but she wasn't perfect. Squall knew that firsthand. For instance, he didn't think that Quistis was the best person to be lecturing about sexual harassment policy. She'd done and said things to him when nobody was looking that made him feel very uncomfortable considering she was his manager. His only defense against her had been keeping a straight face and ignoring her on anything that wasn't related to doing his job. He winced at several strange memories and then buried them. Maybe she didn't realize how she came across. Squall tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, it was just easier that way.

And what was wrong with him that he didn't want his beautiful blonde boss flirting with him, or whatever it was that she did?

Squall eyed Seifer across the way. He was picking his teeth again loudly. At least he couldn't talk when he was doing that. Seifer caught Squall staring at him, and raised his eyebrows at him in some kind of challenge. He then picked some piece of food out of his teeth and flicked it towards Squall. It flew and disappeared into the gray high-traffic carpet. Squall turned back to his computer, stone faced.

Squall figured that had quite enough of blondes for one lifetime.

And did the new receptionist's level of attractiveness even matter? The person mostly just answered phones and greeted people. Hotness not required. And Squall didn't care if the next receptionist was hot to either to Seifer or Quistis. And he certainly didn't care himself. He just wanted to work, get a paycheck, and go to the home he paid for with that paycheck. Like Squall even ventured outside of his cubicle long enough to interact with any receptionist anyway. And they were always coming and going.

Wimbly Donner, the last receptionist. He sure hadn't lasted long. Squall wondered if he'd moved on to new and better things. This place had a high turnover rate for receptionists, that's why the new person was going to be a temp with the possibility of the position being a temp-to-hire. Slight possibility. Nobody was planning on getting too attached, or even trying, except for maybe Selphie. She'd 'friend' the person on social media even if they lasted only a day. Her friend count was sky high.

Selphie Tilmitt, customer service. She was a people person if there ever was one, but she took it to an alarming degree. She was so insistent on being friends with everybody, that even Squall was 'friends' with her on social media. Although she'd made the account for him and he was completely unaware of that fact. Squall Leonhart had one friend on Network Square, and it was Selphie Tilmitt. She figured he could use some kind of web presence. She didn't know his real birthday, so she'd just made up some facts for him. Nobody would notice. Squall certainly didn't.

Selphie was just another one of Squall's co-workers who he tried to ignore as much as possible. She was very unlike Squall in every way. She wanted to interact with people. And she smiled all the time. She probably woke up every day happy to come into work. Complete opposites. Anyways, because of Selphie's personality, she was looking forward to welcoming the new hire. As Squall busied himself with his spreadsheet, she was on the other side of the office getting ready for the new person's arrival with her usual ritual.

Selphie reached into her desk and pulled out a little mesh bundle of candies that were tied together with a decorative yellow ribbon. She'd made herself to be the welcoming committee for all the new receptionists. She had a drawer full of the little gifts. She pranced up to the front desk and plopped the candies right down in front of the switchboard phone. The new employee wouldn't be able to miss it.

She wondered what would the new receptionist be like. She hoped she'd be more fun than the last guy. Hopefully she'd actually be a she, and not a he because she wanted a new girl there to be friends with. There were too many boys there to begin with. Sure, she thought they were cute boys, but she figured a girl would be a nice addition.

"Miss Trepe, when will the new employee be arriving?" Selphie asked sweetly while tiptoeing towards Quistis. Her unattended phone started ringing behind her.

Quistis turned to answer. "Please don't neglect your customer service duties," she said to Selphie. "She'll be here soon enough," she said firmly. Quistis glanced at the clock again. "Maybe," she said under her breath. While the receptionist position had a high turnover rate, all previous employees had actually arrived the first day on the job. Would the new person not even make it that far?

Quistis turned and went back into her office, leaving her team to do their jobs.

Selphie turned and raced back to her cubicle. She snatched up the phone and answered, "Phoenix Company, Revitalize Yourself!" Soon the sound of her conversation floated away on lots of sympathetic noises on Selphie's part. She then walked the customer through the process to get a refund and be sent an envelope full of coupons. She was playing at being naturally sweet, just like one of the company's popular energy bars.

"Do you mind taking part in a very short customer satisfaction survey right now?" Selphie asked in a feminine high pitched voice. She found this voice was her most persuasive. She cooed until the customer agreed. "Okay, would you rate your experience as satisfying OR extremely satisfying?" She waited a few moments while the customer spoke with her. "Yes, those are the only two options." She tapped her fingernails on her desk and nodded her head. Loud squabbling was then heard through her earpiece and Selphie hung up the phone with a huff. "Fine! Don't take part in the survey!" she said in a low bitter growl of barely masked rage.

Irvine got up from his desk and sauntered over into Selphie's area. He leaned onto the wall that divided their cubicles. "Honey, why do you keep bothering people with these surveys? You know Quistis doesn't make us survey anybody," Irvine said. "If she knew about them, she'd probably make you stop." He looked down and nodded his head at her paternally, trying to convince her to see reason.

Selphie straightened her back and held her head high. She didn't like it when smarmy men tried to sway her from her opinions or goals. "First off, don't call me honey. Secondly I take my job seriously. And since I do, I'm surveying them for MYSELF. I want to know HOW good of a job I'm doing," Selphie answered.

Throaty laughter was heard from across the office.

"Sounds like you're doing," Seifer began in a loud voice, "NOT TOO GOOD!" Seifer had good hearing. He always had something to say to everything that happened in the office. His vocal chords were pretty great as well. He could scream-talk insults all day long without his voice getting raspy. With those sorts of qualifications he could be a rude radio personality. He noticed everything, much to the annoyance of his co-workers.

And too bad it was such a small office. The cubicles only gave the appearance that each employee was closed off in their own private world, but in reality, most people could hear everything that went on. Even when some employees tried their hardest to not notice anything around them. Specifically, employees like Squall.

Squall rubbed his hand over his forehead and tried to block out Selphie's chatter and Seifer's yelling so he could focus on his glowing computer monitor full of numbers. He always tried to shut out all the office sounds of people working and talking. He couldn't make them go away, but he could reduce them to a dull hum of background noise. Just seven hours away from quitting time. It was just him and the numbers until then. And then he'd be done with one more day in his pointless life of office drudgery, and he could go home to his bare walled apartment and wait until the next day to do it all over.

After a few minutes, the relative office silence was broken again.

"I got dibs on the new girl," Seifer said to everybody and nobody. His loud voice carried, somehow not dampened by cubicle walls at all. He probably was tilting his head back and talking towards the ceiling so his words could bounce through the office.

"No fair, you had dibs last time," Irvine said, several cubes away.

"Uh yeah, Wimbly wasn't my idea of a dream woman," Seifer countered. Seifer often spoke about what his dream woman would be like, even though nobody had ever asked him about it. Body type, personality, and his other preferences were well known, even if some of the characteristics countered each other and changed according to his daily whims.

Selphie's head popped up over her cubicle wall like a chipmunk coming out of a hole. She was the shortest person in the office, as she wasn't even 5'2", so she must have climbed up on her desk or stood on her office chair to get that high. She was energetic and optimistic, so she didn't let something like tall cubicle walls stand in her way.

"Guys! Stop talking like that, it's offensive!" Selphie said, now done with her customer service call. "And why fight over a new girl, when somebody totally super cute is right in front of you?"

"Your hairstyle is a deal breaker," Seifer said without missing a beat, as if he'd thought this through before at great lengths during his downtime at work. "And that's not taking into account your personality, height, or general body," he added insult to injury while counting off Selphie's faults on his fingertips.

Selphie fall back down into her cubicle with a thud and grabbed at her hair with a gasp. She knew Seifer wasn't the nicest person in the office, but that was too far. And she couldn't help that her hair flipped out so much at the ends. It was hereditary from her father's side! She was very sensitive about that fact. Her brothers' hair did that weird flippy thing too, but nobody knew because they kept it super short. She couldn't do that as a girl without looking even worse. She sighed internally. Maybe she could grow it out and slick it into a classy updo like Quistis. She grumbled because she couldn't ever compete with her blonde bombshell of a boss. Maybe she should cut her hair even shorter. Not boy-short, but sorta-short short. Pixie-short? She thought for a moment. Nah, not her style.

"Leave her alone," Irvine said while shaking his head, not that anybody saw him because he stayed in his cubicle resting with his boots propped up on his desk. It was Monday morning, he had all week to work. Or not. Mondays were nearly still like the weekend. Now Tuesdays and Wednesdays, those were Irvine's Mondays. And Thursdays were practically Fridays, and everybody knew that not much work got done on Fridays either. He was just pacing himself for the long week ahead and conserving his energy for the next weekend.

Irvine Kinneas, customer service. He was a people person, but not like Selphie. Compared to her, he was a loner, even if he really wasn't. While still being social, he was much more laid back about his interactions with people. Sometimes that was just what was needed though. He could soothe and be understanding when Selphie failed, not that it happened often. He contributed, but basically Selphie took most of the customer service calls, and that was fine by him.

"Almasy, my office, NOW!" Quistis yelled through her office door. She'd been overhearing the increasingly inappropriate conversation amongst her cubicle dwelling office workers, and she decided to put an end to it before Seifer started talking about women's body proportions in detail.

Seifer smirked. "Yes ma'am!" he said while jumping to his feet. Squall's eyes flicked to the side as he saw Seifer exit his cubicle and stride with confidence towards Quistis' office door. Seifer entered and closed the door behind himself with a slam that reverberated throughout the office.

Now Quistis rated much higher in Seifer's imagination than Selphie. If there was an office beauty queen contest, he'd award her the top prize. Not that Quistis would care, and she was already the office manager. That in its own way was like being the queen of the office, beauty or otherwise.

Raised voices were heard behind the closed door, and the two figures were seen walking in front of the office's internal windows. Seifer went up to the window's mini-blinds and closed them. More raised voices. A few moments later, Quistis pushed Seifer back out of her office and reopened the mini-blinds.

In all the commotion, nobody noticed a young woman slipping through the front door of the business. The door's jingle was barely audible. She stood sheepishly with her hands folded in front of herself, waiting for something to happen. After some muffled yelling, Quistis' door opened again, with a flushed faced Seifer leaning on the doorframe heavily.

"Um excuse me, I'm the new worker," the young woman stated, while walking towards Seifer. He had an authoritative air about himself, apparently his own office, and he was dressed smartly in a white dress shirt and red tie. The young woman just assumed he was the office manager. "Are you Quistis Trepe?" she asked.

Seifer's face fell. "Do I look like a lady to you?" he asked with an edge to his voice.

Zell Dincht snickered from the back of the room without stopping entering data. He'd been laying low all morning, just glad Seifer's loud mouth wasn't directed at him this time.

"Um no, I didn't know Quistis was a lady's name. It's so unique that I've never heard it before. I didn't know who to expect," she said. "I've only met Mr. Kramer at my initial interview," she explained.

Cid Kramer was in charge of hiring and firing. If he was better at it, maybe he could get a receptionist that stayed longer than a few weeks, but he wasn't. Maybe this person would be a better fit than the last guy.

Quistis gave Seifer's back a firm push to dislodge him from her doorway, and he lurched and tripped on the ends of his polished oxford dress shoes. She walked up to the new woman. "Actually, I'm Quistis Trepe," she said while introducing herself. "You must be Rinoa Heartilly, the new receptionist."

Squall had been trying to ignore the people around him, but the sound of the new receptionist's voice awakened a sense of curiosity he didn't realize he still had. He thought he'd outgrown his curiosity a long time ago when he was a child. Her voice sounded so smooth and sweet with a bit of dark velvet underneath. Slightly timid, but not mousey. She could use force, but only if her miss-nice-girl routine didn't work first. At least that's what he imagined.

When did he get such a rich imagination and when did he start imagining things like this? Was the new girl going to take up residence in his brain?

He shook himself, took a sip of his coffee and tried to come to his reasonable senses. Tried and failed. Her voice was soothing after all the irritating sounds of the morning. He wanted to see if she looked as nice as she sounded. He couldn't believe that he actually wanted to get involved with what was happening currently in the office, even if just a little bit. But he had to satisfy his curiosity before he could focus back on his work. He was just that curious. There would be no harm in a quick peek.

Curiosity is what killed the cat.

Squall quietly raised himself out of his chair and stuck his head outside of the cubicle to take a look. All he could see was Quistis standing before a person, but Seifer's giant back was obstructing his view. He figured that Seiffer was probably towering over the new person to assert his dominance, or some stupid macho garbage like that. If so, she had Squall's sympathies. Couldn't these people tell she was new and nervous and needed air to breathe?

Since when did Squall care so much about his fellow office workers?

Rinoa Heartilly took a slight step back to distance herself from Seifer. Just enough for comfort, but not too far that it would seem like personal slight against him.

But if she did, he would have deserved it, Squall thought

Squall finally got a good look at her. She was a young woman somewhere between petite and average height. She was wearing basic office worker clothes for a woman. A simple black pencil skirt, black flats, and a black camisole with a lacey sky blue shirt to go over it. Nothing out of the ordinary, but his heart beat faster, ever so slightly nonetheless. He assured himself that his pulse had picked up because he was worried for her and sympathetic towards anybody starting a new job. First days were rough. He tried to remember his first day working here.

File not found.

He was still sympathetic though. His reaction certainly wasn't because of the way her long dark hair contrasted against her porcelain skin. And it wasn't because of her sweet heart shaped face with large brown eyes and soft pink lips. It certainly couldn't be those things, he lied to himself.

Okay, so maybe she was his type, a lot of woman in the world were. He wouldn't use the term dream woman like Seifer would though. That would be going too far. But he liked dark hair and brown eyes, and those were pretty common. Not that her looks really mattered. She might be rude or already have a boyfriend. Maybe both. Okay, maybe that didn't matter either. She was the receptionist, she might not even last a week. Or if Seifer was going to be his usual self, she might not even last the day. Better not get his hopes up, that was the only way he could handle a job like this. Or a life like his.

That was Squall Leonhart's motto. Don't get your hopes up.

He settled back into his cubicle where he continued to crunch numbers. His heart rate steadied. Time to soldier through the rest of the week. The glowing computer screen reflected in his nearly dead blue-gray eyes.

* * *

Author's notes: In a conversation with Ssnakey-B, he mentioned something about imagining Squall having a boring job like data entry or something. Then I got an idea for a boring office worker AU romance. Please read and review. Reviews make me very happy and motivate me to write more.


	2. Chapter 2: It's My First Day!

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.

Chapter Two: It's My First Day!

 _I'll show him!_ Rinoa thought to herself with determination.

Her bus ride wasn't long, but it was lengthy enough that her mind started wandering as she stared out the window at the quaint streets of Balamb. Currently she was replaying a past argument with her father. It was one of many.

He'd wanted her to stay in Deling City and take a job that he'd gotten for her. Her father was a high ranking Galbadian general and he had a lot of powerful friends. Friends who had promised to find his somewhat unaccomplished twenty-something daughter a suitable job. And if they couldn't find one, they would invent one. It would have been a personal favor for General Caraway.

All Rinoa had to do was show up at a downtown Deling City skyscraper in a well tailored skirt suit, and they'd find something for her to do at one of her father's friend's company. They'd give her work to do, even if they had to create some. Busywork for the general's little daughter.

She sighed. If she did that, she might as well just drop herself off at the company's daycare.

She wanted to get a job on her own, away from her father's influence. And that's just what she did. She got this job without his help. She got it with her high school degree, a few community college courses, and a smattering of incredibly short term and varied work experiences.

Okay, it wasn't the best job. But she did it on her own. That's what was important.

Although her father didn't like that she had chosen Balamb for this. He thought this whole thing was a bad idea. He didn't understand why she couldn't find a similar position in Deling City, or even in Galabadia somewhere. Why did it have to be in far off Balamb?

She answered that Balamb was such a cute little place. It was sunny and touristy. It was much safer than Deling City. And she wanted to try living on her own, away from her father.

He didn't like that part.

Rinoa knew he loved her, in his own way, but it came across as being very controlling. He even chose what guys she could date. They were suitable men for her, the general would answer.

Suitable men. Suitable job. Suitable life. All according to him.

She was sick of having him choose what was suitable for her. She wanted to choose for herself. She wanted to find out who she was. She wanted the chance.

And that's why she'd show him! She'd show him that she could do it. She would hold down this job and figure out how to live on her own and be her own person.

And if this didn't work out, she could always try something else.

The brakes of the bus creaked metallically and she bounced on her seat.

 _Is this my stop?_ Rinoa thought as memories of her father faded away.

It was time to get off already. She quickly exited and looked around. The company wasn't that far away. Time to get moving.

Rinoa's heart rate picked up as she strode away from the bus stop. Her commute wasn't long, but it was a relief to get off the bus and stretch her legs. It was a beautiful brisk day where the sun kissed the chill away, so she didn't mind the short walk at all. She was so excited that she would have loved to run, jog, or skip to her destination, but she didn't think that would be a good look for a person wearing office attire. And she didn't want to arrive all sweaty with disheveled hair on her first day of a new job.

She was so excited. She was so nervous.

Soon she sighted the office building down the street. She was almost there, so she walked up the sidewalk at a fast pace. Mirrored windows of an office building reflected a gray parking lot that was semi-filled with an assortment of nondescript vehicles. She thought it was a shame that the office workers were unable to enjoy the chilly yet brisk morning.

Rinoa could hear the twittering of birds as she passed by the dense green shrubbery that lined the building. The sound of her shoes clipping up on the sidewalk must have startled the birds because she could hear the sound of wings starting to flutter. Suddenly the unseen birds took flight as they flew away in a group.

Rinoa looked skyward after the birds as she laced her finger through her dark hair. She smiled at their freedom, but then noticed that little lost feathers floated overhead. She frowned as they started settling around her, and she moved to avoid them from raining down on her neat office attire. She looked down at herself and smoothed her hands over her black pencil skirt while she continued to approach the front door of the building. She took a moment to check her appearance in the reflective surface before she entered. Everything looked good, so far.

She took a deep breath and her hand grabbed the cold metal door handle. It was her first day, anything could happen. This was a new chapter in her life, but this time she was going to write her story herself. Her dad wasn't going to co-author this story any more.

She looked backwards over her shoulder nervously and briefly thought of flying away like the birds. Was this going to be a mistake? She shook her head and she steeled herself. She remembered that her dad thought this was a bad idea, and that firmed her resolve. She'd prove him wrong She'd do a great job without anybody's help.

But first she had to get her first day under her belt.

 _You can do this,_ she thought. _Act professionally and make a good impression._

She tried pulling the door open, but it was incredibly heavy and resisted. Was it locked?

She pulled again. It didn't budge. Wait, was she suppose to PUSH instead of pull?

She pushed.

Nope, that didn't make sense. She pulled again and put some muscle into it.

She would be a great addition to this company, but first she had to get her foot in the door. Literally.

She pulled on the door again with all of her might and it slowly started creaking open. The door needed to be oiled. No door should be that hard to open. Once she cleared the heavy door, she jumped inside to avoid being hit by it. She didn't trust it.

 _You did it!_ she thought to herself. _You opened a door. Hooray,_ she thought sarcastically. Hopefully the rest of the day would go better.

Once she was inside her face was met with warm stale air. It seemed oppressive after the wonderful brisk freshness of the morning, but that was to be expected. Offices were stuffy and full of florescent lights.

Before her stood an empty desk, gray and uninviting. It was the only desk not hidden by high cubicle walls. She could hear the sounds of employees who were busy working away, answering phone calls and typing on their computers.

 _Somebody should be here to greet me,_ Rinoa thought. Then she shook her head at the thought. _Oh wait, I guess that's why they hired me in the first place. Better find somebody to talk to. Who is in charge here?_

She could hear people, but she didn't know who to approach. And nobody approached her. She'd slipped in so quietly nobody even noticed. And why would they notice her? There was quite a loud commotion coming behind the closed door of an office. Mini-blinds were going up and down while clanking against the office's inner windows. Two people were arguing within. Suddenly a tall and very handsome man stepped out. His bright blond hair was slicked back neatly, save for a few bits that fell over his forehead. He was well dressed in a crisp white dress shirt and a bold red tie. He had a confident posture and looked very managerial, or as her friend Zone would say, large and in charge.

The man leaned on the doorframe heavily and looked over at her. She was somewhat glad that she'd finally caught somebody's eye. Time to introduce herself.

"Um, excuse me. I'm the new office worker," Rinoa said to him. "Are you Quistis Trepe?"

"Do I look like a lady to you," the blond man yelled at her. She inwardly winced, not really sure what to say.

"Um no, I didn't know Quistis was a lady's name. It's so unique that I've never heard it before. I didn't know who to expect. I've only met Mr. Kramer at my initial interview," she explained.

"Actually, I'm Quistis Trepe," a tall blond woman said while introducing herself. "You must be Rinoa Heartilly, the new receptionist."

Rinoa looked over at the woman who had identified herself as Quistis. She was tall, blond, and very beautiful. Sleekly styled blonde hair, tailored professional clothes, finely manicured nails. Was everybody in Balamb good looking, tall, and blond? Or maybe it was just everybody in this particular office. Wait, maybe they were related. Was this a family business? Better not make any assumptions., the blond man seemed to have a fiery temper.

"Yea, that's me," Rinoa said in a small voice, feeling stupid. She cleared her throat and started again, this time trying to make her voice sound smooth and professional, maybe even sultry. "I'm Rinoa Heartilly, the new receptionist," she said while repeating the same information Quistis just stated.

 _Ack! First impressions! First impressions! Say something smart!_

"I'm here to be... I mean, I'm here to work," Rinoa said.

 _Well duh, Rinoa!_

"We're glad you're here," Quistis said with a warm smile.

"Finally," Seifer added while standing over Rinoa. She stepped back, to keep her distance. "Quistis didn't think you'd ever show up. Late on your first day," Seifer said while shaking his head with a tsk tsk sound.

Rinoa's eyes widened at the information Seifer had just given her.

"It's better to show up late than not at all," Seifer said, giving unasked for advice. He paused and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment before continuing. "Although, some might say if you're going to show up late on the _first_ day, maybe you shouldn't bother showing up at all."

 _But I thought Cid said to show up at 10 am! I thought that was weird,_ Rinoa thought to herself.

"Mr. Kramer said to show up at 10," Rinoa said. "I think," she added. Did she make a big mistake already?

"Mr. Almasy," Quistis chastised, "I'm sure you have work you should be doing."

"Yes, Ms. Trepe," Seifer answered with a smirk. He walked back to his cubicle before shooting a look over his shoulder at Quistis.

Quistis pushed her eyeglasses up on her nose once Seifer was no longer in her line of sight. "Don't worry about it," Quistis said to a visibly flustered Rinoa. "Cid maybe did tell you that. He does things like that sometimes." She paused. "But Mr. Almasy is right in saying that our workday does start at 9 am here. So show up then tomorrow."

Rinoa nodded her head while her stomach lurched. "I'll be here bright and early," she said to reassure Quistis. She straightened her back and gave her a wide smile, trying to show that she'd be a good employee. She couldn't already be hanging on by a thread, could she?

She didn't know they needed her more than she needed them. And she'd have to be pretty bad to get fired here. Even if she was the worst receptionist, they wouldn't fire her because she would quit of her own accord soon enough. At least she would if she were anything like every single previous receptionist. It was like this position was cursed.

"Welcome to the Phoenix team," Quistis said while trying to encourage Rinoa. "We're happy to have you."

"You're welcome," Rinoa said while trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach.

 _You're welcome? That doesn't seem like the right response,_ Rinoa thought while kicking herself mentally.

Quistis nodded her head and winced for her. She decided to just move forward with getting the new employee acclimated to the business.

"Before your training starts, I'll just point out a few things. This part of the building does administrative functions for Phoenix," Quistis explained. "The factory and warehouse is in the back, but you won't need to go back there. The products are organized and readied for shipment there." Rinoa nodded her head at Quistis. "It's through those large metal doors down the hallway, but it's separate from the front part of the building. Noisy, lots of machines, forklifts, and all that. You'll be mostly concerned with up here," Quistis said while pointing to a desk at the front. There was a computer and a file cabinet next to it.

Well there it was. Little boring desk. This was going to be her new home away from home.

As she wondered if somebody was going to show her what to do, she felt a light, but insistent tapping on her left shoulder. She turned around to see a young woman with a quirky hairstyle and a yellow ribbon headband smiling widely at her. Her smile was so huge and friendly that it seemed the woman knew her, but she didn't look familiar to Rinoa. Had they met before?

Rinoa didn't think she could have forgotten a hairdo like that.

"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Selphie Tilmitt," the woman said while giving a little wave at Rinoa.

Quistis took a step back now that Selphie had arrived.

"And here is the person to help you with your first day and give you a walkthrough of your daily duties," Quistis said. "Let me know if you need anything else," Quistis said before walking away to go back to her office.

Selphie clasped her hands in front of herself now that Quistis had left them alone together. Her eyes gleamed with excitement.

"So, I volunteered to train you," Selphie said with a smile. "I mean, I usually train ALL the receptionists, and it is kinda my job now, but I want you to know that I also volunteered to do it too." Rinoa stared at her, not knowing what she was trying to say. "I WANT to train you," Selphie clarified.

"Okay?" Rinoa said, not knowing what else to say.

"Take a seat," Selphie said while pulling out the office chair at Rinoa's front desk. The wheels squeaked quietly on the carpet. Rinoa started to bend her legs to sit down when Selphie pushed the chair at her and she collapsed into the fake leather seat. The chair squeaked and protested further when Selphie leaned onto the backrest and started pointing over Rinoa. "All the office supplies you need are in that drawer. But there is an office supply closet down the hallway if you need other stuff too."

"Okay."

"All the supplies are dull colored and pretty ugly though, if you ask me," Selphie said with a sigh. "I'd recommend bringing in cuter pens, pencils, and erasers if you want to have a cheerful atmosphere." She took a moment to think. "Hey! Did you know they make paperclips in the shapes of animals?"

"No," Rinoa said. She wondered when the training would start.

"Well, they do. And they're adorable," Selphie explained. She pulled one out of her back pocket to show Rinoa and shoved it into her hand. The big looping wires of a pink paperclip resembled a butterfly, if Rinoa squinted enough. The wires were a bit deformed though, presumably from use.

"Do they work as well as a normal paperclip?" Rinoa asked while holding it up before her face.

"They totally don't," Selphie said instantly, "but it's worth it." Selphie pulled a few more colorful animal paperclips out of pocket to admire them.

Rinoa thought that Selphie really seemed to be into cute stationary, and maybe she was working at the wrong place. She could be a stationary salesperson or at least work at a stationary store or gift shop selling cute trinkets to people. That seemed a better job for her than new-employee-trainer.

"Okay," Rinoa said yet again, waiting for further instruction, or any instruction. She really didn't know what she was going to be doing other than greeting people and answering phones. She put the pink butterfly clip down on her desk with a clink, not sure if it was a present or it was just hers to look at for now.

"Oh wait, what's that?!" Selphie asked suddenly, feigning ignorance with her mouth wide open and her hand touching the side of her face. She was pointing to a small mesh bag of candies right next to the computer.

Rinoa turned away from Selphie to see where she was pointing. She saw the little present sitting on the desk and reached out to take it, prompted by Selphie's outburst. She picked it up in her hand and looked at it, then she looked back at Selphie expectantly.

"Looks like you made an office friend already," Selphie said with a smirk. "I wonder who," she said with a lilt in her voice.

Rinoa looked at the little candies. They were tied together in their bag with a decorative yellow ribbon. She looked down at the yellow ribbon, and then back up at the yellow ribbon headband in Selphie's hair. She put two and two together.

"Are you my 'office friend'?" Rinoa asked slowly.

Selphie nodded her head quickly, her curled ends of hair bobbing along with her and her green eyes twinkling like some kind of merry elfin creature. Although in fairy tales, sometimes elves were helpful and benign, and other times they were wicked and mischievous. Which type was this girl?

She wondered.

Rinoa decided that this person was very nice, but her energy level was off putting. It was slightly scaring her that she could smile that much at a complete stranger.

Rinoa chastised herself internally. Here she was, a new person in a new place. She shouldn't be complaining about a person being friendly, no matter how eccentric the person might act, or how weird her hair was. She reached into the bunch of candies and pulled out one and popped it into her mouth. The sweet and sour tang of a lemon drop made her lips purse.

"Yummy! Thanks," Rinoa said with a big smile. The lemon drop clinked against her teeth as she sucked on it. She personally felt it was too early in the morning for candy, but she wanted to be polite.

Selphie smiled back at her and hunched her shoulders together in a look of glee. She obviously was having a lot of fun that Rinoa was playing along with her. Most other receptionists weren't as obliging. She took this as an encouraging sign that Rinoa was a special one. She felt that she should train Rinoa well so that she stayed longer than the others. She walked closer to the desk to get started.

"Okay, first things first. We totally get a mega-ton of informative inter-office emails here. So let me show you how to check your emails," Selphie said while grabbing the computer mouse to wake up the sleeping computer. She shook it from side to side quickly.

 _Show me how to check emails? Does she think I'm her grandma?_ Rinoa thought to herself.

"You don't need to show me how to check emails," Rinoa said while leaning forward as Selphie smooshed over her in the seat. It would have made more sense to have Selphie sitting in the chair if she was going to be showing her everything on the computer.

"Well then you're overqualified for this job," Selphie said as she let go of the computer mouse suddenly and straightened up.

"What?" Rinoa asked turning her head to look up at Selphie.

"What?" Selphie responded. She pause and blinked at her. "So, do you want me to show you where you sort mail, weigh mail, work the postage machine, file different kinds of paperwork, use the switchboard phone, or any of those sorts of things?"

"Wait, slow down," Rinoa said. "Maybe I should write some of this down." She looked around the desk for a small pad of paper and a pen.

Selphie watched as Rinoa dug around her new desk looking for supplies. Teaching new receptionists about their job wasn't the most fun. She mostly liked meeting the new receptionists and giving them a tour and introducing them to everybody else.

"Or we can just skip all that for now and I can show you the break room. Do you want a tea or coffee or complimentary energy bar?" Selphie asked. "They're revitalizing!" Before waiting for an answer, Selphie grabbed Rinoa by the arm and pulled on her to a standing position. "Time for a break!" she said.

"But..." Rinoa started. It was no use, Selphie had her in her grip.

Selphie started pulling Rinoa out of the main work area and down the hallway to show her where the break room was. Her footsteps skittered across the carpet as she pulled Rinoa along. She deftly maneuvered Rinoa around potted plants and a gawking male coworker. As they passed another set of doors she whispered, "bathrooms are over there, just so you know."

"Thanks," Rinoa said while Selphie steered her into the small break room.

"And here we are," Selphie said, "Ta-da!" she added with a flourish of her hand. It was an overkill move as it was just a bleak looking break room. The dull grayness of the rest of the office continued into here too. A long white table and plastic chairs were scattered throughout. A small kitchenette with a sink, microwave, coffee pot, and refrigerator was on one side of the room, while a big corkboard adorned the wall of the opposite side. A few drab posters admonished workers to be safe, and to report any accidents. Another poster showed how to help a choking person.

Selphie pointed to the little basket full of the company's energy bars. "You can snack on these anytime. We never run out. But it you want something fun and not healthy, you have to bring your own stuff."

Rinoa didn't know why Selphie referred to the energy bars as being healthy. They didn't look healthy, and she was pretty sure the main source of energy in them was sugar. Not that Rinoa was a health nut. She liked junk food as much as the next person.

A man jogged by the break room door quickly, then backtracked and popped his head in. He grabbed at the doorframe.

"Heya, nice to meet ya, I'm Zell," he said with a sharp toothed smile while waving at Rinoa. He looked like the coworker that Selphie had just steered Rinoa around when they were traipsing down the hallway.

Rinoa looked him over. Yet another blond at this office. She didn't think he could be related to the other two though. He was a lot shorter. His blond hair was gelled up into a spiky style and his shirt sleeves were rolled to his elbows. He had unusually muscular arms for somebody who worked in an office all day. Maybe weightlifting helped prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.

"I just want to welcome you." He paused while looking side to side down the long hallway before continuing. "And to tell you to watch out for Seifer," Zell explained. "He's bad news. And sometimes he plays practical jokes on people. Just giving you a heads up."

Selphie waved her arms in front of her and shook her head from side to side. "Don't scare her Zell," Selphie said.

"I'm doing her a favor," Zell explained. "I'm being nice."

"Frightening the new person doesn't sound very nice," Selphie said. "And Seifer doesn't prank girls."

"But," Zell started while making a fist, "he's a jerk!" He walked fully into the room with them.

"Yea, he's a jerk," Selphie agreed, "but he's more verbally abusive to women than an actual prankster. There's a DIFFERENCE."

Rinoa couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was this office going to be a scary place to work? Was Seifer the man she'd already met? She had to start leaning names and faces quickly.

"Either way, Zell is right about you maybe staying away from him," Selphie said. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Seifer wasn't standing there. "Just to be on the safe side."

She thought that these two coworkers really didn't seem to like this Seifer person.

"And Seifer is the tall and good looking blond man?" Rinoa asked, just wanting to clarify. She might as well know who exactly they were all hating.

Sudden silence. Zell and Selphie stared at her. Zell's nose wrinkled in disgust and his eyes crinkled shut as if he smelled something rotten. Selphie mostly seemed stunned. She tipped her head to the side in thought.

"I guess he could be described as good looking," Selphie said slowly, "to somebody who didn't know him," she added at a faster pace. She nodded her head and shrugged as if agreeing with the realization that she'd just had.

Seifer had all the ingredients to be a good looking man. Tall and broad shouldered. Yes. Piercing eyes. Got those. Confidence. He had way too much confidence, that was for sure. But somehow when you added it all up, he wasn't the ideal man. He was missing something. Probably kindness, self-control, empathy, or something like that. Seifer wouldn't consider those traits to be manly. And he thought he was a manly man, an alpha male. Above all the rest.

"Jerk, prankster, whatever, just be careful. Thanks to him I always make sure there is nothing on the seat of my chair when I sit down," Zell said. "Or on the toilet seat," he continued under his breath.

Rinoa gasped. "You've got to be joking, right?" she asked. She was not happy if there was going to be an employee sabotaging the bathroom. She couldn't hold it for 8 hours every day. That wasn't healthy.

"Don't worry about it Rinny," Selphie said. "I'm sure Seifer won't do anything to you in the bathroom." She shook her head. "But Zell should watch out. Hey Zell, just use the ladies room with us, I wouldn't mind. She wouldn't either," Selphie said while pointing at Rinoa.

Rinoa wasn't so sure that she wouldn't mind, but she wasn't going to say anything. And by the way Zell recoiled at Selphie's suggestion, she didn't think Zell was going to be joining them in the ladies' room anytime soon.

"Uh, no thanks Selphie," Zell said. "Nice meeting you," he said to Rinoa while giving her a little flip of a salute before jogging out of the break room.

Selphie turned towards Rinoa and smiled. "Well, that's Zell. He's a sweet guy, and you definitely DON'T need to avoid him. Really nice." Rinoa nodded her head at Selphie. "Hey, do you want me to introduce you to everybody else?" Selphie asked, her eyes lighting up at the prospect. "I can take you on a quick little tour of the cubes!"

"Uh, sure?" Rinoa said while readying for her to drag her away again. Rinoa had quickly learned that Selphie wasn't the type of person to take no for an answer.

"Booyaka!" Selphie yelled before pulling Rinoa back down the hallway.

* * *

Rinoa sat at the receptionist desk with a big smile plastered on her face. So far she'd been shown around the little office and shown what to do. She'd been introduced to everybody in the administrative area, and even to some of the people in the warehouse. Her head was swimming with new names and faces. She probably wasn't going to remember anybody tomorrow. It would take some time to get used to everybody and everything, but she was going to try. There wasn't a whole lot to her job, but she was going to try her hardest to be friendly and professional.

But right now, all she had to do was sit and smile. Actually, smiling was optional, but she felt it was the professional thing to do. She practiced her resting smiley face because she never knew who'd walk in though the front door. She was the first face they'd see.

It was boring though.

Suddenly the phone rang. Finally, something for her to do. She lunged for it before fumbling it off the hook.

"Phoenix Industries," she said in her silkiest and calmest voice. "Yes, I'll transfer you. Hold please." She looked down at the phone set. Selphie had shown her what buttons to push to transfer calls. but she started to panic now that Selphie wasn't there to help her. "I'm going to transfer a call to customer service," Rinoa said out loud. She pressed several buttons, hoping they were the right ones.

She didn't hear a ring from Selphie's cubicle.

"Oh no, oh no," Rinoa mumbled. "I think I dropped the call."

Selphie got up and ran over to Rinoa's desk. "It's okay, you're trying!" she cheered. Selphie went through the motions of trying to show her how to work the switchboard phone again. She went way too fast, almost at hyperspeed, but Rinoa believed that she now knew what she did wrong and how to correct it for the next caller.

"Maybe they'll call back," Rinoa said.

"Just keep trying, you'll figure it out soon," Selphie said while pumping her arm in the air.

A long and low whistle could be heard from across the office. "I don't mind at all, she's making our job easier if she can't transfer calls," Irvine said.

"Irvy!" Selphie protested, not liking anybody dragging down the new person. "It's her FIRST day!"

"Yea Irvine, but to a certain point she's going to hurt business," Seifer said while ignoring Selphie. "And if she hurts the business bad enough, it's going to jeopardize all of us eventually."

"Seifer, it was just ONE call," Selphie said. She turned to Rinoa and mouthed, "Don't worry, it's fine."

"She's going to put us all the poor house!" Seifer yelled. The sound of his fist pounding his desk could be heard. "I'm going to lose my job as a salesman and then what will I do?" He paused and everybody hoped he'd stop talking.

Of course it was a small hope.

"I'm tall and I've been told I have striking features and a masculine jaw line," Seifer said in a smooth voice. "I could be a model."

The office let out a collective sigh.

"Seifer, nobody wants to see you strip!" Selphie complained while walking back to her cubicle. Rinoa looked after Selphie, not agreeing with her giant leap of logic.

"I said MODEL!" Seifer yelled. "And who says nobody would want to see me strip? I bet I'd make a ton of money being a stripper! I dare you to find a stripper that looks better than me!" His fist pounded his desk again.

"Seifer, nobody wants to pay to see you in any form," Selphie said, settling into her office swivel chair. She was skating a fine line between mildly irritating Seifer and daring to draw his full rage. The limit of his patience could be easily broken, and he could become enraged at the drop of a hat.

The sound of Seifer's chair squeaking roughly could be heard as he jumped up from his desk and stalked over to Selphie's cubicle. Within a moment his large body loomed over the cube's entrance and he put both of his arms out on either side to block her escape. His mouth was tightly shut and his nostrils flared in anger like a wild torama.

Selphie swiveled around to see him there, and she suddenly felt trapped like a little animal. Her heart started hammering at the feeling of being stalked and confined by a large predator. If he had a tail, it would be flicking from side to side, readying to go in for the kill. It was too much for her to handle.

"Rinoa might," she stammered quickly while her eyelids fluttered in fear. She bit her lip before continuing. "Rinoa thinks you're handsome!" she belted out, trying to distract him so she could run away to someplace safe. Irvine was just next door, and Seifer never had a problem with him. She could hide behind his lanky frame, maybe Irvine could talk him down from his rage high.

Seifer suddenly snapped out of it. His eyes lost the look of anger and he relaxed his posture. He smoothed his hand over the top of his head. His already slicked back style didn't need straightening, but it was a move that calmed him. "She said that?" he asked in a husky voice. He didn't need to call dibs on the new girl. It seemed that the new girl had called dibs on him. And why wouldn't she? He was handsome, nay, he was gorgeous. He put his arms down and turned to go speak directly to her.

 _Handsome?_ Squall thought.

Squall's hands withdrew from his keyboard and he strained his ears to hear what was happening. Did he just hear Selphie say that the new girl was attracted to Seifer? Squall became unreasonably irritated. Why would any woman be attracted to that jerk? Or at least a nice person. Why would a nice person be attracted to Seifer? And the new receptionist seemed like such a nice person. At least he was hoping that she was. Not that he knew her very well, or at all. They'd just met.

Selphie had introduced them earlier in the day. He could tell that he hadn't made an impression on her at all. Her eyes were glazed over and he doubted whether or not she even caught his name. He would love to have chalked that up to Selphie's whirlwind tour of the office and its inhabitants though. Squall had been at the tail end of it, and she looked burned out on meeting people.

But apparently somebody had made impression on her, and it just happened to be the office's resident loudmouthed jerk, Seifer Almasy.

And now she was going to attract his attention. He would feel sorry for her, but she thought Seifer was handsome. He didn't have a lot of spare sympathy for somebody who would think that about Seifer.

Although he was curious about what was going to happen.

Squall could hear Seifer walking to the front reception desk. He leaned out of his cubicle to see what was happening.

Seifer leaned on the top of the high walled receptionist desk and smirked down at Rinoa. He arched one blond eyebrow at her.

"So apparently," Seifer began smoothly, his voice going lower, "I've caught your notice."

Rinoa's mouth fell open and her cheeks colored. She looked stunned. "Uh, well..."

"Do you think I could have a career as a male model?" Seifer continued, wanting to keep talking about himself. He leaned towards her further and turned his head side to side. "Do you think I have a striking jaw line? I've heard women find masculine jaw lines to be attractive. Would you agree?"

Squall's earlier irritation turned to protectiveness. And suddenly he realized he did feel sympathetic for her, no matter what she'd said about Seifer. Quistis hadn't come back from lunch yet, so there was no end in sight for Seifer's interrogation. Nobody else in the office would stop him from hassling the new girl, so he'd have to do something. Squall looked around his desk for something. He reached out and grabbed a file folder and got out of his seat and walked up to the front desk.

"Seifer," Squall said calmly, as if he had been ignoring everything that had been happening in the office. Nobody would think otherwise, as Squall never spoke with anybody about anything non-essential. People often forgot that quiet people had ears.

Seifer's eyebrows knit together and he turned. He wasn't used to Squall initiating a conversation.

"I have a report I need you to look at," Squall said, unsure of where this was going. He figured he could point at a spread sheet full of numbers and babble about something while asking questions. Maybe that would distract him for long enough to get him away from Rinoa.

"Can't it wait?" Seifer asked. "You've never needed me to look at your stuff before. Losing your touch?"

"Can't wait," Squall said, ignoring his mild taunt.

Seifer shrugged his broad shoulders and then his attention was successfully diverted. He straightened his back and walked back to Squall's cubicle for their discussion. He could always bother the new girl later. She wasn't going anywhere. Her whole job description was physically staying at the front desk all day. She was an unmoving target. A sitting duck. He could always go back later.

 _Oh good, he's got work to do,_ Rinoa thought. Rinoa watched Seifer retreat back to the cubicles. Once he was fully gone, she breathed a sigh of relief.

A few minutes later Selphie tiptoed up to the receptionist's desk. She mouthed that she was sorry, but Rinoa just gave her a stern glare until she scampered back to her cubicle. Her feelings were hurt that Selphie had blurted something out that she clearly wouldn't want Seifer to know.

And Selphie was supposed to be her 'office friend.' Some friend!

Rinoa suddenly had a little bit of guilt at the rude thought. She wasn't completely without sympathy for Selphie. It was scary to attract Seifer's full attention. She thought her heart was going to leap out of her chest when he came over to her. When his aqua eyes gleamed at her, she'd felt cornered. He was an intense person, and the fact that he was handsome somehow made him even scarier. Not that she'd ever admit that AGAIN. Ugh. What a day.

Time marched on slowly. Rinoa never had a desk job before. She'd worked at an ice cream store, pet shop, a library, different retail locations, and she'd even tried being a nanny. But the last time she sat at a desk this long, she was in school. This was hard for her.

This first day was physically and emotionally draining her and she couldn't believe how tired she was. Her muscles ached. She must have been tensing all of her muscles all day long. Even her face hurt from smiling. She couldn't wait for her first day to be over. It had dragged on for long enough. She just wanted to go home and relax in a nice warm bubble bath.

And how soon could she do that? Surely the day must nearly be over.

Rinoa looked over at the clock on her computer. 1:30 pm. It was only 1:30 pm?! And she'd even arrived late.

UNBELIEVABLE!

* * *

Rinoa breezed into her apartment and kicked off her shoes. She stretched out her back and sighed luxuriously. She was moments away from preparing a celebratory bubble bath.

"Home sweet home," she said while dropping her keys down on the table next to her front door.

She was tired but she walked further into her little apartment with a feeling of triumph. She'd finished her first day of her job, a job she'd gotten on her own. Sure, it wasn't much, but it felt good that she had gotten it without her father's help or his Galbadian connections. Nobody knew who she was here in Balamb. She wasn't General Caraway's 'rich and spoiled daughter,' she was just Rinoa Heartilly, the new girl. It was a fresh start, and it was exciting.

Well, it was half exciting, half mind-numbingly boring. And it was also a little lonely to be on her own, but time would fix the loneliness, probably. She'd meet new people and maybe make some friends. And if that didn't work, there was a whole wide world out there. She could go anywhere she wanted. She had promised herself when she moved here she wouldn't set down roots so deep that she couldn't pick up and leave. She didn't want to be trapped. Even the apartment was on a month-to-month lease.

She looked around her new apartment as her dog bounded up to her. She scratched Angelo, her shepherd-collie mix, behind her ears. White walls. Cheap beige carpet. Not particularly interesting, and it was tiny and barely furnished. She certainly was living light and free compared to her father's huge dark and stuffy house in downtown Deling City. But maybe that's just what she needed, a total change.

Angelo gave a happy bark. She patted her dog's head.

This was liberating, in a scary sort of way. Her eyes sparkled. She felt so alive.

Today was just the first day. She couldn't wait to start her new life!

* * *

Author's Notes: Please read and review. I have a lot more of this story half written so far. More silliness coming up.


	3. Chapter 3: Give Me a Break!

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

Chapter 3 - Give Me a Break!

* * *

 _Woo! I'm here early today!_

Rinoa pulled the heavy metal door open and a breathed a sigh of relief.

 _And not a moment too soon_ , she thought as fat raindrops began splattering the sidewalk behind her.

She ducked inside as the door shut with a loud clang. She was glad to finally be safely inside, away from any raindrops or sudden downpours. Walking from the bus stop was fun when it was sunny, but when it was dreary and wet, the walk seemed twice as long. She was just glad she'd brought her warm wool coat. It was stiff and scratchy, but it kept out dampness very well. She figured that was a fair trade.

 _Nice and dry._

Well, she didn't have to worry about the weather any more today, so she began unbuttoning her coat. She looked over her shoulder and checked the clock while she hung up her coat in the closet. She was pleased to see exactly how early she was. She still hadn't gotten used to the public bus schedule yet, but she figured it was better to arrive early than late.

She didn't want a repeat of yesterday.

She could just imagine the smug look on that tall blond's stupidly "handsome" face when he told her that she'd arrived late on her first day. That was uncalled for! Well, sorta. She WAS late, so that was true, but it wasn't her fault. The snark certainly wasn't called for! And he seriously didn't have to mention it as he wasn't her boss. He COULD have been gentlemanly about it. Could've, but wasn't.

And too bad too. It would have been fun to work at an office where there was a terribly handsome and gentlemanly man. It would be just like one of the books she liked to read where the handsome gentleman sweeps the timid yet adorable woman off her feet.

Not that she identified with those fictional women completely. For one thing, she wasn't exactly timid. But the point was that she was upset that instead of a terribly handsome man, there was just a handsome man who was also terrible.

And her interactions with him were backed up by her other coworkers too. They warned her about him. She could just remember the way Zell's eyes flashed rage when talking about him and the way Selphie bounced while contemplating his handsome devilishness. Rinoa wouldn't forget their warnings. She also wouldn't forget how he'd physically cornered Selphie in her own cubicle. Scary.

So even though it was only her second day, she already knew that guy could be trouble with a capital T. All the signs pointed to: BAD BOY, STAY AWAY!

 _Bad boy?_

That was a juvenile term to describe a man like Seifer, but it was a familiar one. It was the sort of term that would be used against a teenager who was up to no good. And Rinoa wasn't in high school anymore, neither was Seifer.

She smiled at herself. Seifer WAS the type of guy she'd love to have dated in high school to upset her dad. 'The general' would have freaked out to see her with a big guy with that much snarky confidence. And his whole physicality just dripped with danger. Blondie definitely was the type of guy her dad would pay to keep away from her. The rage on her dad's face would have been hilarious. That would have been sweet.

She shook her head while she went to sit at her desk. She had to remember that she wasn't in high school anymore, and her dad wasn't here to watch out for her. She lived alone now, and Seifer was kinda scary. She had to protect herself. And she was too old to be playing rebel just in order to test limits with her overly rigid father. Not happening.

She smiled slightly while remembering his vividly intense turquoise eyes.

Well, maybe in another life, another timeline, but not in this one.

Definitely not.

So she'd be on alert about him while being professionally friendly. She didn't want to attract any more of the handsome blond menace's attention than she already had.

 _Professional. Friendly. No problem._

She was Rinoa Heartilly, the new girl, a professional, a working girl. Working girl? Maybe scratch that one. It sounded kinda prostitutey. Hey, actually so did professional. Huh, why did all these words and phrases have scandalous connotations with working women? She'd just stick with Rinoa Heartilly. She was Rinoa Heartilly, that was for sure. Except for the part where she was Rinoa Caraway, but nobody needed to get into that. Here she was Rinoa Heartilly.

 _Stop overthinking everything Rinoa. Time to start the day._

Except it wasn't quite time to start the day. She was really, really early. Most of the automatic lights over the cubicles hadn't even turned on yet.

She looked over the semi-dark office, and noticed that she was one of the first people there this morning. Quistis was already in her office working on her computer, but otherwise it was quiet.

Rinoa ran her hands over her skirt as she stared straight ahead while sitting at her desk. This proved to be quite boring, but she didn't know what else she could do. The desk was already clean, so she couldn't even organize it, not that she was the type of person who was into that. She looked down and started going through the desk drawers to see if there was anything interesting them. There wasn't. Back to staring straight ahead.

She looked at the clock.

Tick-Tock. Tick-tock.

Wait, was that a bug on her leg? She flicked it off herself in a panic. It floated down to the floor. Oh, it was just a fuzzy from her tights. That was a close one.

One minute had gone by.

She checked for more fuzzies. Nothing. She was good, at least for now. But she would have to monitor the situation throughout the day. While these black tights were warm and snuggly, they attracted a lot of lint.

More staring.

She started making a grocery list in her head. She was getting low on milk and cereal.

 _Grocery List: 1. Milk. 2. Cereal._

 _Okay, that's it._

Organizing her thoughts didn't take long.

She checked the clock again. Three minutes had gone by.

 _Too bad I'm getting paid by the hour, and not by the minute,_ she thought while her eyes grew dull with boredom. She focused on her breathing and tried to relax, but not relax too much. She didn't want to fall asleep.

Actually she DID want to fall back asleep, but she couldn't do that here.

She imagined her warm, fluffy, and invitingly unmade bed back at her apartment. She sighed. It would be so nice to wrap herself up in her comforter and sleep for a few more hours. In lieu of that, she wrapped her blue sweater cardigan around herself tightly and waited. Since she was situated by the front door, she'd get cold air blowing in her face every time somebody arrived. She tried to make herself warm in preparation for that. She even considered putting her jacket back on, but then she decided against it. It could stay in the company coat closet.

She crossed her arms over herself and rubbed her hands over her arms. Warmer. Good.

After what seemed like an eternity, finally others started filtering into the office. Lights started to flicker on. She thought she knew most people's names in her area, but she saw unfamiliar faces too. There were other sections of the little company, and she wasn't sure of everybody yet. She nodded her head at them as they passed. She just hoped that they actually belonged there. Was she meant to the be the gatekeeper or just answer phones? Maybe she should figure out what her duties were in addition to knowing who was who.

She tried to keep everybody's names and faces straight in her mind. She didn't want to confuse anybody, but that was hard because everybody had such unique names. And there were a lot of blond people here. Maybe she could use some mnemonic device or word association to help her remember.

Okay, she took stock of the blonds. Quistis was the only blonde woman, and the manager, so that was easy. She was the manger, and that was like the queen, so she could remember Quistis, queen. No problem. But then there were two blond men, and they were both loud, so that was more challenging. The tall loud bad boy was called Seifer, and the short blond one was called Zell. She could remember that Zell was the one with a hairstyle that was all stuck up with gel. She could remember that. Zell. Gel. That rhymed. Seifer was memorable enough on his own.

Okay now to take stock of the darker haired people in the office. Selphie was the only other girl in the immediate area. Selphie, pronounced like selfie. That made sense, she seemed like a girl who would take a lot of selfies. Also it was easy to remember as she was one of only a handful of women in the office. Irvine had long brownish auburn hair, and the name Irvine was a town she'd heard of. Maybe he'd been there. He had a slight accent, maybe he traveled a lot, she could imagine. And that was everybody. Wait, no, there was one other guy in her area. What was his name? She couldn't remember.

This office had a lot of creative names in it, not that she was one to complain. Considering her mom's name was something normal like Julia, she thought it was weird that she'd been given the name Rinoa. Her mom had taken the old fashioned name of Lenore as inspiration and tried to turn it into something modern and different. It was pretty different. She'd never met another Rinoa. She was the only one.

But she'd also never met another Quistis, Seifer, Zell, or Selphie. Lots of different names.

She smiled. She realized was doing fairly okay at remembering their names. It was only her second day after all.

Rinoa decided that was enough memory tricks for the morning. She'd figure out everybody else's names soon enough. She'd just have to pay careful attention.

It was nearly 9 am and suddenly a flock of people rushed in the door. She practiced their names as they passed by her. There was that dark haired guy who didn't talk, Seifer, Zell, and Irvine. Being able to recall three out of four names wasn't so bad.

Irvine was the first person to break the silence in the office as he came in.

"Hey Selphie, I have a question for ya," Irvine started to say as he walked towards her cubicle. He was stunned to see that she wasn't in yet. "Huh, she isn't here." Irvine couldn't remember a time when Selphie wasn't there first.

"Congratulations Irvine, you aren't the last one to get here," Seifer said while standing in the front of the office.

Irvine laughed. Even he was surprised. It certainly wasn't because he left any sooner. It probably helped that he'd carpooled with Zell today. Zell did not like being late. Irvine just shrugged and walked towards his cubicle for a good sit. Zell and Seifer went to their desks as well. Selphie would get there when she got there.

Rinoa looked at the clock, wondering where Selphie was. It was now 9:15 in the morning, maybe Selphie wasn't coming today. Her switchboard phone started lighting up and ringing. Rinoa picked up the receiver.

"Good morning," she greeted, "Phoenix Industries." The person on the other end explained the situation and Rinoa transferred the call back towards Irvine's customer service line. Hopefully Irvine could handle it without Selphie. She could hear the ringing, but then the call bounced back to her desk. What was Irvine doing?

"Oh, your call didn't go through?" Rinoa said, getting irritated at Irvine. "Maybe the customer service person is briefly away from the phone now," she said into her phone while staring towards where Irvine was clearly sitting. She transferred the call again. The phone rang.

"Irvine! Pick up the phone!" Rinoa called loudly. "Don't make me come over there!"

"It's too early," Irvine complained.

"DO IT!" Rinoa growled.

 _She's got an edge to her under that sweet exterior,_ Squall thought. _I knew it._

And Squall grinned at the new receptionist's irritation too. Somebody should force Irvine to get a better work ethic, but it shouldn't have to be the new girl. He figured Quistis should be the one to whip Irvine into shape.

While Squall was thinking of Quistis' whipping capabilities, Selphie flounced into the office, the warm smell of coffee and vanilla trailing in her wake. She held a bakery box full of pastries high in the air and a cardboard carton full of flavored coffees in the other.

"Good morning everyone!" she said cheerily.

"Alright FOOD!" Zell said while running up to Selphie. Rinoa thought this seemed to be a somewhat common occurrence according to Zell's reaction. Selphie quickly sidestepped him like a basketball player and pivoted the food away from him.

"No! Rinoa is the new person here, she gets first pick!" Selphie said while holding the pastries protectively. She straightened up and brought the food to Rinoa's desk. "Here you go," she said with a smile. "Choose wisely."

Rinoa looked into the box of pastries and saw an assortment of muffins, danishes, bear claws, and donuts. There were a lot of good choices there. The glazed donuts looked good, but so did the pink frosted donuts covered in rainbow sprinkles. The danishes looked delicious, but too big for her alone.

 _I don't want to look like a pig,_ Rinoa thought to herself. Her image with these new people wasn't cemented yet. She wanted to make a good impression. Although she could pack away quite a few pastries, if nobody was looking, but they didn't need to know that. At least not yet.

She reached in a pulled out a muffin at random. It didn't look as decadent as the other options, but it probably had just as many calories, if not more. Oh well, the things she'd do for appearances.

"Oh! You like lemon poppy seed muffins too?" Selphie asked excitedly. "Those are my favorite. Food twins!" Selphie plopped down a vanilla and hazelnut flavored coffee on Rinoa's desk without asking. "This is my favorite too!" She turned back around to the other office workers. "Now you may have a pastry Zell." She offered him the box of pastries.

Zell reached in double handed and grabbed a donut and danish before backing away quickly. He didn't know if Selphie was going to change her mind, so he quickly took a bite out of each of them. "Yea, thanksh Shelphie," he said while chewing. "Good shtuff."

"Coffee?" she offered while tilting her head at him.

Zell looked down at his occupied hands and sighed. He then stuffed the partially eaten danish into his mouth and used his free hand to grab a hot coffee. He nodded his head in thanks and then trotted back to his work area to do some data entry.

"Okay, who else wants some deliciousness?" Selphie called out loud enough for everybody in the vicinity to hear.

Everybody else converged upon Selphie and her treats, eager for some food and another reason to put off working for a few more minutes. Selphie relished being the center of attention, at least vicariously through the food she brought in. Once everybody got what they wanted, she was left holding a half empty box. She then started coming down from her attention high.

She wondered if anybody else wanted anything.

* * *

Squall had been listening to everybody chatting and eating pastries instead of working. He both disliked their laziness and envied them for it. Unlike other people, he always had trouble taking time for himself. He couldn't justify it to his brain. He was there to work. That was it. And so that's what he only did.

Although while he was working, he couldn't stop fully stop his imagination. An image of Rinoa eating daintily and getting something like powdered sugar stuck in the corners of her mouth popped into his mind.

He smiled at the thought and relaxed.

Wait, what was he doing?

He rubbed his forehead in frustration, his back muscles suddenly tense. His imagination was getting very active. Instead of imagining what it looked like up there, he could just get up and join everybody. That would be a normal thing to do. He could go get a coffee, nod his head, and then turn back to his desk. Nobody was keeping him away, except himself. But no, of course Squall Leonhart couldn't be normal like that. Instead he was back here like a creeper, imagining Rinoa licking powdered sugar off her dewy pink lips.

Yea not creepy at all. Maybe he should talk to a professional or something.

Talk? Ha!

"Hey, you want something?" Selphie asked while popping in his cubicle unannounced. Squall jumped up in his chair with a start. "Maybe you didn't hear, but I brought in some super yummy treats?" she said in a questioning tone while noticing his tension. She gave him an inquiring look.

Squall swiveled around in his chair to look directly at her. She stood there in her dark mustard yellow dress and harvest orange tights, holding a pastry box and some coffees. While he stared at her, he noticed the warm smells of sugar, vanilla, and coffee coming in with Selphie. It smelled good and homey, like a long time ago when his mother used to bake. His mind glazed over like the donuts in the box.

Too much time had gone by since she'd asked him a question.

He shook his head suddenly. "No, I don't need anything," he said. He turned back towards his computer. He started typing in random numbers. He could delete them after she left. She had to leave soon, right?

"You sure you don't need anything?" Selphie asked in a low voice.

He needed lots of stuff, not that he'd admit it. And Squall was tempted because everything smelled so good, but he ignored it.

"I'm sure," he said while not turning to look at her anymore. He got started on his long day of work.

"Okay," she said, "If you change your mind, I'll leave the leftovers out for you in the break room." She turned around and left his cubicle.

What was wrong with him? Couldn't he just say yes without feeling stupid?

No.

* * *

Rinoa stepped sideways as she exited the bathroom stall, the door banging loudly behind her. She smoothed her hands over her skirt and sighed as she stepped towards the sink. It was nice to have a little break, even if it was just a quick bathroom break. She'd been at work for only a few hours and her back was stiff from all the sitting. Her job was so boring that she actually had been looking forward to her bathroom break. Oh yea, toilet time. Really exciting!

She actually was jealous of the other workers, at least they had stuff to do. Her job mostly entailed sitting on her butt and doing nothing. What was relaxing for a Sunday afternoon made for a really boring weekday.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. That morning had been rushed because she wanted to be early, and she hadn't double checked her appearance before leaving for work. Now was a good time to check.

She looked at her reflection with scrutiny. Smooth dark hair and a fresh complexion reflected back at her. She was relieved that her hair looked nice and neat. Her eyeliner wasn't even smudged. Somehow in her morning rush she had lined her upper lashes with delicate grace. That was a rare feat even on a good day. Each eye looked big and brown and well defined. She suddenly felt pretty. Luck was on her side today.

She smiled at herself with satisfaction. Her white teeth sparkled back at her. Mostly white.

Wait! What was in her teeth?!

She leaned forward, her genuine smile turned into a forced grimace of panic. What was that little black thing? Was that a poppy seed stuck between her two front teeth? Had anybody noticed? Ugh, it must have been from those lemon poppy seed mini-muffins Selphie had brought in that morning.

She dislodged the offending black speck with her tongue. Maybe nobody had noticed. She calmed down.

She grabbed the faucet and turned it on. Cool water sloshed in the basin as she reached for the soap. She pushed on the dispenser and it squirted a big glop of clear liquid soap, narrowly missing her outstretched hand and getting her shirt.

 _That wouldn't be what I need today,_ she thought to herself. _I gotta look professional._

She quickly lathered up and the irritating chemical smell filled her nose. Offices never splurged on anything nice smelling. There was only industrial strength stuff that would strip her hands and chap them.

 _Maybe I should bring in some lotion. I could keep it in my desk drawer. Something nice smelling too. Maybe lilacs? Or something citrus? Maybe..._

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A loud screeching siren sounded, giving her heart a shock. She jumped.

 _Is that the fire alarm?!_

She started trying to rinse her hands. The water splashed everywhere in her hurry. It puddled around the sink and soaked part of her blouse and skirt.

"The building is on fire! The building is on fire!" she repeated to herself.

She kept trying to rinse off her the harsh smelling soap, but it wasn't rinsing clean. Why was this taking so long? Why'd she care? The building was on FIRE!

She didn't have time to dry her hands. She just shook out her semi-soapy hands and splashed herself even more before turning to run out of the bathroom. Her wet hands slipped repeatedly on the doorknob. She grabbed it with all her strength and finally got it to open.

Within moments she was in the office hallway. The siren was still blaring in her ears, and lights were flashing. Where was everybody? She started to run down the hallway before she realized she was going the wrong way. In front of her stood an industrial metal door that led into the warehouse. Above there was a white light that was flashing rapidly, and the screeching continued. She wasn't used to this new place yet. She turned and ran towards where she thought the front door was when she tripped on her shoe and nearly went flying face first into the dull gray high-traffic carpet. She hobbled the rest of the way to the door.

Rinoa ran outside to the parking lot, breathing heavily. The rest of the employees were already gathered outside in a group. Everybody seemed really calm considering there was a fire.

That should have been her first clue.

She noticed Zell and Irvine arguing with each other while Selphie turned her back on them, tapping her foot impatiently. Quistis stood nearby with a stopwatch in her hand with Seifer standing over her shoulder. That other guy stood a small ways apart from them, closer to the parked cars than his coworkers.

How'd they all get out of the building so quickly? And how did they have the forethought to all be wearing their coats? And they needed them today. A damp and chilly wind was blowing, she could even feel a couple of raindrops. She could smell the salty ocean air on the breeze. Fast moving heavy gray clouds foretold of even worse weather that was coming later.

The cold outside air chilled Rinoa. The fact that she'd gotten herself wet in the bathroom wasn't helping her stay warm either. It seemed like a thousand small needles were poking wherever she was wet. And she didn't bring a coat, she hadn't time. It was a fire! She limped along towards the her coworkers, fixing the back of her shoe on the way.

"Good job everybody, our department got out of the building the fastest," Quistis said. "IT and the warehouse aren't accounted for yet."

"This isn't a competition, is it?" asked Irvine, tipping his broad brimmed hat against the raindrops. "Aren't fire drills meant to be about safety?"

 _Fire drill! Of course this was a fire drill!_ Rinoa thought. She had been subjected to many fire drills during her school years. She just had never thought of a workplace doing them. She felt so stupid.

Rinoa looked down at her hands. A tiny bit of soap suds was smeared on her wrist still. She wiped it on the back of her skirt. She was already wet, but now she felt extra silly too. She stepped away from the group of her coworkers and stood apart, nearer to the quiet dark haired man. She wrapped her arms around herself to try and stay warm. She rubbed her hands over the thin sleeves of her blouse trying to generate some heat. She hoped they didn't have to stay outside long.

 _She's going to freeze out here,_ Squall thought while he looked over at Rinoa. His eyes scanned over her as she hopped from foot to foot. She wiped at her face where a raindrop had just fallen.

"You're wet," he said while looking at the large and obvious wet splotches on her skirt and blouse. He wondered how her shirt had gotten soaked.

"Uh yeah," she started to explain. "I was just going to the bathroom and..." Squall's eyebrows raised. "I mean I was IN the bathroom, washing my hands when the fire alarm went off. I guess I made a mess while trying to hurry." She gave him a slight side smile that mostly looked like an apologetic grimace of sorts. She started to shiver.

Squall stared at her. She looked so cold and pathetic... and cute.

"I didn't know that this was just a drill. I thought that maybe the building was on fire, for real," Rinoa said. "If I'd known it was just a drill, I would have stopped to grab my coat. Or at least I would have kept my coat with me at my desk."

"Fire drill was scheduled for today," Squall said. "The inter-office email sent out a warning to everyone yesterday."

"Oopsie," she said while hugging her arms around herself.

 _Ack! I never learned how to check my office email! I should have just let Selphie show me how to do it yesterday. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!_ Rinoa screamed in her head. This humiliation could have been easily avoided.

A bitterly cold and damp wind blew straight through her. Her seemingly warm and fuzzy black tights did nothing against the onslaught of the strong sea wind. She shivered in the chilly air and looked at the ground dejectedly. Raindrops started falling in greater frequency. She felt miserable and stupid.

Suddenly she sensed movement in the corner of her eye. She lifted her head and caught sight of a jacket being offered to her. She saw that her coworker had taken off his jacket for her. He continued to hold out his arm to her.

"Here," he said.

Rinoa stared at his outstretched arm and looked longingly at the warm jacket. Should she take it? She didn't know this guy. It was a kind gesture, but also kind of a personal one too. What if he was a bad boy like Seifer? It WAS a black leather jacket.

She hadn't given him much notice before, so she looked up at the man's face inquiringly. Dullish blue gray eyes that were lined by dark lashes stared back at her. She noticed that he had a well shaped face and even features that were framed by longish medium brown hair. While she looked at him, it just dawned on her that he was fairly good looking. He wasn't handsome in an aggressively masculine and flashy way like Seifer, but it was more of a quiet and subtle attractiveness.

She decided that the look he was giving her didn't seem friendly, but it didn't look dangerous either. She wondered if she should take his coat. If she took it, she might end up smelling like his cologne or something. That was oddly personal for a nameless, and attractive, stranger.

 _He wouldn't be nameless if you had a better memory,_ Rinoa chastised herself. She'd been staring for a touch too long. She better just do something, and soon.

Rinoa nodded her head at him and took the coat from him. She slipped on the well-worn black leather jacket and instantly melted into it. It was such a relief after the horrible chill that had soaked into her bones. The satin lining felt so nice and soft, and it all was pre-warmed too. She ran her fingertips over the supple leather. She didn't know much about leather, but it seemed to be quality. And the fluffy white fur at the collar tickled her nose as she ducked her face down into it against the wind. So warm.

Yes, yes, yes, this was the right decision. She kept enjoying herself, oblivious to her surroundings.

And normally she'd be offended at fur, but today she was loving it. Fur was murder, or something. Her warm and hazy brain tried to remember the slogan she used to yell at rich fur-wearing woman in Deling City during the winter. Well, it would be rude to launch into an anti-animal-cruelty tirade right now when he had just been kind to her. She looked over at his weirdly blank yet handsome face and decided it was probably fake fur anyways. Nobody that attractive could be cruel to animals.

Well, maybe Seifer.

She pushed the thought of Seifer out of her mind. She was having a moment and she wanted to enjoy every second of it while she could.

She sighed. She wanted to live in this warm snuggly coat.

 _Huh?_ Squall thought to himself as he continued to observe Rinoa. He kept himself perfectly still to avoid startling her. What in the world was she doing?

Rinoa looked up and suddenly realized something. He'd been staring at her the whole time she'd been cuddling luxuriously into his coat like it was her new best friend.

He was going to think she was weird!

Rinoa suddenly straightened up and stopped petting the fur collar. She tried her hardest to look normal after whatever she'd just been doing. She hoped she hadn't made any silly faces, or worse, weird noises. And what had she just been doing? Where was she just touching? She decided to just stand still and act normal.

They stood there for a few minutes in silence, waiting for the fire drill to officially be over. Squall stood there in a white collared button down shirt, seemingly impervious to the chilly wet wind.

"Uh, aren't you cold?" Rinoa asked, feeling guilty at being wonderfully warm in his black leather jacket. Her cheeks pink from warmth.

"Okay, we can all head back in now," Quistis called out to everybody.

"I'm not cold," he lied. Maybe it wasn't exactly a lie. He hadn't been wet like she'd been. Since he was dry he could tolerate the cold better than she could.

"And I can go to the bathroom without wetting myself," Squall added while turning and walking back towards the building.

Rinoa stood there and gaped after him. Was that a joke? Rinoa wasn't sure, but she flushed with embarrassment until even the tips of her ears felt hot. Her whole body was warming up a lot since she'd interacted with that strange quiet man.

 _What just happened?_ she thought.

Once everybody had filed back into the office, she was the last person to go back into the building.

* * *

Squall sat down at his desk, shoulder muscles tense.

 _What was that?! What did I just say?!_

He ran his fingers through his hair and shook the moisture out. The cold still clung to his skin like a damp blanket, but his face burned and his heart beat in his chest noticeably. He stared straight forward at the unadorned gray wall before him.

He'd felt so awkward just standing near her all that time during the fire drill. No cubicle wall stood between them. He didn't have to imagine anything. He could observe her normally.

Yea, normal.

She was wet and practically making out with his jacket. That wasn't normal.

Breathe in.

It was interesting to watch though.

Did he imagine all that?

Breath out.

If that was real, he was getting jealous of his own coat.

If that was imagined, maybe he should see a professional.

Breathe in.

This was his safe and boring little world where nothing notable or abnormal happened.

Breathe out.

 _Everything is okay. You're at your desk now._

He felt slightly relieved at being in the relative safety of his cubicle. Although right now he wished it had four walls instead of three.

Seifer leaned out of his office chair and whispered. "Hey, I saw you talking to the new girl. Didn't you hear that I called dibs on her?" he joked.

Make that four walls and a roof. Completely sealed off.

Squall ignored him, like always, and Seifer eventually went back to work.

 _How am I going to get my jacket back now?_ Squall wondered to himself.

* * *

Author's Notes: I had fun writing this chapter. Please read and review.


	4. Chapter 4: Network Square

Chapter 4 - Network Square

Rinoa fell backwards onto the couch cushions with a bounce. She hadn't purchased decorative pillows for her new apartment yet, so instead her head rested softly on a folded fur and leather jacket. This jacket was a new acquisition of hers.

She'd 'borrowed' this coat earlier in the day from a coworker, and somehow she still had it. She really should have given it back to him immediately, but she didn't. She wasn't sure why.

Was it because it just slipped her mind at the time? Maybe. Was it because the jacket was so nice and warm on this wet and dreary Balamb day? Possible. Was it because she wanted an excuse to talk to him again? Not sure. Or was it because she was an idiot? Uh...

She certainly felt a bit idiotic at the predicament she had gotten herself into. She was pretty sure he hadn't meant to let her borrow his coat indefinitely. Although she sighed because she kinda wanted to keep it on her couch as a souvenir of a lovely memory.

And it was a lovely memory, wasn't it?

Rinoa turned her head and pressed her face into the soft fur collar and remembered what had happened. She'd been caught in the rain like a damsel in distress and a handsome stranger came to her rescue. He'd given up his warm coat so she wouldn't suffer. He was like a gentleman from a romance novel. She felt so silly remembering it fondly, but she couldn't help but smile. Her legs dangled lazily over the arm of her couch while she let out a long sigh of contentment.

Well, it was romantic in her highly edited memory. In reality it hadn't gone so smoothly. She'd been left feeling embarrassed after the 'handsome stranger' said some socially awkward things. But what was the use of having an imagination if you didn't force yourself to creatively edit your memories? Right now when she was all alone, she just wanted to remember the sweetness. She petted the soft fur of the jacket and smiled. It had been so nice to not be cold and damp, and it was really, really nice to be hugged by a prewarmed jacket.

It had been a wet and drizzly day, but now that she was home, she'd gotten herself toasty warm. She'd gotten out of her work clothes the second she came home and had taken a shower. Now she was comfortable and clean in her soft cotton loungewear. Heat radiated off her body from her long steamy shower. Her muscles were warm and relaxed and every bit of chilliness of the day was gone. She combed her fingers through her damp hair while the fresh botanical scent of her shampoo hung around her.

 _So nice,_ she thought as she stared upwards at nothing, feeling the leather jacket beneath her head. The last of the sunset's pink light danced across the white ceiling. _I could do nothing the rest of the night._

Although after a few minutes of relaxing, doing nothing all night with only a jacket to keep her company sounded pretty pathetic to Rinoa. Now that she'd refreshed herself, she wanted some mental stimulation. Mental stimulation and maybe a tasty snack.

 _Internet and food,_ she decided. She sat up and tapped her fingers on the her knees. Time to get a snack.

A little while later she was seated on the carpeted floor of her apartment with her legs tucked underneath her coffee table. It had been a long and crazy day at work, and she was so glad to be home.

Home was a place she could unwind, be herself, and hang out with her dog. She missed Angelo, her collie-shepherd mix, so much during the day. And not only was it great to be at home with Angelo, it was also great to be anyplace where she could use the bathroom or get a snack without having to ask somebody to cover the receptionist desk for her.

It made her feel like she was in the third grade. Ms. Quistis may I go use the restroom please? Oh well, that was part of her job. She didn't need to worry about that now that she was home.

Anyways, it was Internet time. She reached out and turned on her laptop.

"Angelo, come," Rinoa said clearly.

Her dog immediately responded to her command and came over. She nuzzled at the back of Rinoa's arm before flopping down next to her and giving a big doggy smile.

"Good girl," Rinoa said sweetly while giving Angelo a few head scratches.

Rinoa took a sip of steaming tea from a mug and took a bite of a sugar cookie from the small plate next to her. She made kissing noises at her dog. The tea warmed her insides pleasantly and she smiled. She munched on the cookie, and little bits of crumbs rained down on her coffee table.

"Love you," Rinoa cooed. The dog's tail hit the floor with several heavy thuds of happiness. "I wish I could take you with me to work." That probably wasn't allowed, but it would be fun.

Rinoa was happy that she was an animal person. Living by herself would be extra lonely and scary without a pet. A hamster would have been cute, but she wanted more than that. A cat would have been cute and a companion, but Rinoa like going places in the great outdoors. A dog could be a cute companion whom she could take anywhere, and in addition to all that, her dog could protect her. Angelo was the perfect pet for her. Not that she was just any pet. She was special.

Angelo had been trained well. General Caraway had pulled some strings and had gotten an instructor who had previously trained Deling City police dogs for Angelo. The dog's sweet face and gentle nature hid her training and toughness. She could handle an attacker or a burglar as well as a police canine. She was protection in a adorable furry package. Caraway had insisted Rinoa be protected if she lived on her own. It was either train Angelo or get a gun.

And Rinoa with a handgun? She could just imagine herself hobbling into the ER after shooting herself accidentally in the foot. And that was the best of the worst-case-scenarios she'd imagined. Having a big dog for protection was much more her style. And Angelo was also much more cuddly and comforting than a gun.

And a gun wouldn't cuddle her at night when she woke frightened from a nightmare. Reaching out in the night and feeling her dog's warm fur beside her was calming. Angelo was her big teddy bear. She loved Angelo so much. She was her sweet furry friend. The dog had been with her for years, and she hoped for several more years to come.

"You're my furry roommate," Rinoa said to her dog. "I'd go crazy without you to talk to." And that was somewhat true. She's only moved to Balamb for this job two weeks ago and she'd been feeling lonely ever since.

Her dog was a great companion, but Rinoa also needed some human interaction too. She could talk to the dog all she wanted, but she wanted somebody who could talk back to her.

She was jolted out of her thoughts as her computer let out a familiar sounding chime. It finished booting up. She stopped petting her dog and logged onto the Internet. Instead of real life human interaction, she was going to settle for being on social media tonight. Close enough.

Until she got some in-real-life friends and acquaintances, she was going to be hanging out a lot online and in libraries. She hadn't checked out the local library yet, so that just left the Internet. Now that she had moved away from her familiar surroundings, she felt like she had to connect with something familiar on social media.

As soon as she was online, she logged into her Network Square account. She was greeted by ads and photos. She cringed at the ugly layout and tried to see if she had any messages from her friends.

She didn't have any messages, but she did see a notification for a friend request. She narrowed her eyes at it. Who was it? Was it just some spam or a real person?

The small and grainy pop-up picture showed the smiling face of a girl with hair that flipped out severely at the ends. Rinoa had only seen one person in her entire life with hair like that. It obviously was Selphie, the overly enthusiastic girl from work.

Should she accept the friend request? Did she want to mix personal and public life? She thought for a moment as her hand hovered over the keyboard.

She clicked the accept button. She wanted to have a new life and that included making new friends, right? Selphie seemed nice. Rinoa shrugged to herself. It would be okay.

She wondered what sort of life Selphie had. Was she the same person when she was at work as when she was out with friends? How could somebody be happy all the time? Rinoa felt the urge to find out. Was it being nosy? Maybe. But Rinoa was curious. If Selphie didn't want Rinoa to know about her, she wouldn't have sent a friend request Rinoa reasoned.

Should she Internet stalk her? Maybe just a little.

Rinoa clicked into Selphie's profile and was stunned. The numbers! She couldn't believe how many friends she had! Was collecting friends a hobby of hers? There was NO way somebody could be real friends with that many people.

Okay, Selphie definitely was a people person. Was she friendly and beloved by all? It appeared to be that way.

It made Rinoa self-conscious of her own Internet presence.

Rinoa thought about her own friends on Network Square. Not very many people. Some extended family members. Some acquaintances from high school that she didn't really talk to anymore.

The only people she had that much contact with on Network Square were Zone and Watts, guys who were roughly her age, a bit older, that she met when visiting her maternal grandparents in Timber several years ago. Zone was really the only person who messaged her that much. He was like a pen pal in that way. Without his friendship, she might not bother with Network Square at all anymore.

Zone was great because she could share all kinds of life drama and secrets with him because they didn't live in the same town. It was therapeutic. No judgment. And part of the fun of being friends with him was that her dad wouldn't approve. She smiled. Zone kinda was a pervert, but mostly in a humorous way. She wasn't scared of him or anything.

Well, now she'd be 'friends' with Selphie now. Rinoa's friend count just went up by one.

Rinoa wanted to know more about Selphie. She went to click through Selphie's 'friends.' She instantly noticed some people from work. Zell. Irvine. But then she saw a familiar face without a name. It was that brown haired man who gave her his jacket. The one that sat on her couch like a trophy. What was his name?

She wracked her brain to see if she could recall it without looking. Was it Paul? Maybe Saul. She was so tired from Selphie's first day tour that maybe she never fully caught his name at all. Maybe she couldn't remember it because she'd never really heard it correctly in the first place.

She clicked on his profile. Squall Leonhart? Squall? That was a unique first name. Leonhart. Was that his last name? It sounded fictional, like it was from a trashy romance novel. Seriously, was that even a real name? How did a quiet guy like that have such an awesome name?

She kept looking at his account.

For a guy with such a dramatic name, he sure didn't have many friends. Actually she noticed he only had one friend, Selphie Tilmitt. Rinoa thought he seemed really shy at work, but having only one Network Square friend was pretty sad.

She reached out to click and 'friend' him. Now he'd have two friends. Well, he would if he 'friended' her back. If he wasn't annoyed that she had run off with his jacket.

Now that nobody was around, Rinoa could indulge her curiosity about Squall too. She could stare at his photo without anybody seeing what an Internet stalker she was being. She took her time to look at his photo, and even though it was a grainy, she could see that he was cute. It certainly was NOT the best photo of him. She'd seen him in real life, and this photo, while cute, did not do him justice. It was blurry and he wasn't facing the camera. It was as if he didn't even know there was a camera there. It looked like he'd been completely unaware that somebody was taking his photo.

Rinoa pushed back from her laptop somewhat confused by this. Why would he use a picture like that for his avatar? Strange, but it left her curious. She wanted to find out more about him.

She poked around some more on his profile. There was almost no information about him. His birthday was listed. And underneath his name, where most people had a small blurb about themselves, it just said that he 'liked to work.' There were only a few photos of him other than his profile too. They all looked like they'd been taken when he was unaware, almost like the picture had been cropped out of a larger photo.

It was the blandest Network Square profile Rinoa had ever seen.

While she was staring and wondering how he got such a terrible Network Square profile, a notification popped up on her screen. Zone was online! Her heart leapt in her chest. Friend time. She rushed to chat with him.

What should she say? There were so many new things happening in her life. Where should she start?

"I'm doing okay at work, in case you're asking," she typed and hit send.

Her cursor blinked while she waited for a response from him. She hoped he would be in the mood to chat and not just log off.

She waited a minute, her anxiety building. She just had to tell somebody about her day or she'd burst.

"I didn't ask," Zone typed back, "at least not yet. Rinoa smiled at his response. He seemed chatty and playful. That was a good sign.

"You didn't give me the chance to ask." He typed. "But how are the people in Balamb? Are they treating Princess Rinoa well?"

"Princess, yea right!" Rinoa responded. "I'm not a princess here, I'm just regular Rinoa."

"You'll always be a princess to me," Zone typed. "But are the people nice?"

"Yea, everybody is really nice. They are so much nicer than people in Deling City. Everybody is smiling at me all the time. This one girl brought in food and coffees in my honor this morning. It was really sweet and embarrassing to be the center of attention."

"LOL, I bet you loved it," Zone responded.

"Good attention is good, but I had some embarrassing stuff happen to me today too," Rinoa typed.

"Uh-oh, I feel like you're going to tell me a story now," Zone typed back.

Rinoa scratched at the back of Angelo's head and got ready to spill her story. It was pretty ridiculous.

"Zone, you'll never guess what happened!," she began to type. "I totally WET myself in the bathroom while fleeing from a surprise fire drill!"

Rinoa waited for a response. It took a minute.

"OK, I did not expect that at ALL!" he responded. "I was imagining you falling on your face while wearing heels. THAT, I could see! But peeing your pants is pretty bad."

"ZOOOONE!" Rinoa typed. "I didn't pee in my pants! I splashed water all over myself in the bathroom sink when the fire alarm went off. Totally different!"

"But it still looked like you wet your pants?" he asked.

"Yea..."

"Yea," he responded in agreement.

Rinoa sat there feeling stupid. She wanted to tell Zone more about her day, but sometimes he got weird when she mentioned other guys. She really wanted to tell somebody about it, and another woman would be ideal, but she had always been really short on having actual women as friends. She sighed. She decided to keep typing. She'd pretend everything was cool about it, maybe he wouldn't react harshly.

"But people here are so nice, this one guy gave me his coat when I ran outside for the fire drill because I was wet and cold," she typed. Rinoa smiled at the memory, but she had mixed feelings about it. It didn't help that it was an extremely awkward situation on both sides.

"A kindly old man?" Zone asked.

"Actually, I think he might be close to my age," Rinoa responded while biting her lip. Uh-oh, that might set Zone off.

Five minutes went by before he got back to her. Rinoa wondered if he was angry. Or maybe he just had gotten up to use the bathroom without telling her. She drummed her fingers on her coffee table and shook her hair out nervously.

"I doubt he GAVE it to you, I'm sure he wants it back," Zone typed. "Unless it was a crappy old jacket."

Was Zone getting annoyed?

"No, it was really nice. Black leather," she typed.

"Bad boy?" he asked.

There was that term again. Was Zone irritated? She kept biting her lip.

"I don't think so. He seems shy. And he didn't ever take the jacket back, "she responded.

"Did you let him?" Zone asked. He could just imagine Rinoa taking it as her own without a second thought. She didn't mean to be a rich and spoiled princess, but sometimes it showed that she'd had a wealthy upbringing. For all Zone knew, that was the guy's ONLY jacket. And the weather was turning cold. Wasn't it the rainy season in Balamb? And if he was shy, maybe he was too timid to take his jacket back.

"He didn't come and get it," Rinoa typed, as if that was a good enough explanation. That sounded like a really bad excuse now that Rinoa was saying it to Zone. She was starting to feel like a jerk! Of course she should have given it back to him at the end of the work day. What was she thinking taking it home?!

"Come and get it?" Zone asked, mocking her. "COME. AND. GET. IT. BAD. BOY."

"Shut UP Zone!" Rinoa responded. He was really sticking it to her today. Was he joking or not?

"Are you trying to make this guy your boyfriend?" he asked.

"NO!" Rinoa typed back quickly, her face feeling hot at his accusation. Squall, or whatever his name was, clearly was a good looking man. Not that she was going to admit that to Zone. Zone had a jealous streak in him when it came to her. Brotherly affection maybe? Just thinking about her interactions with Squall was making her face feel flushed, but maybe it was just her proximity to her laptop that was making her feel the heat. The laptop was old and overheated a lot.

She felt flushed and nervous, so she fanned her face with her hand. She was just glad Zone couldn't see her now.

"Just because you take a guy's jacket, doesn't mean you are his girlfriend," Zone explained. "Unless he's a jock and it's his high school letter jacket. Rinoa, were there letters on the jacket?"

 _Does he think I'm a little girl?_ Rinoa complained to herself.

"I'm not a silly teenager in high school anymore!" Rinoa defended herself. Zone was older than her, and pretended to be so mature. Rinoa didn't think being a few years older than her and owning a collection of naughty magazines made him mature, but that was just her opinion. And girls matured faster than boys, so they were about equal. "I KNOW I'm not his girlfriend!"

Zone quickly messaged back, "LOL, classic Rinoa. I'm just teasing you. But I'm completely telling Watts about you wetting yourself at work the first chance I get."

Rinoa calmed down and smiled to herself. Maybe she was overreacting. Zone wasn't angry AT her. He was laughing WITH her. It was a funny situation. He was even going to tell Watts.

Everything was fine.

Except for the fact that she was a jacket thief!

She looked over at her couch to see Squall's leather jacket flung over the armrest. She shouldn't have brought it home, and she certainly shouldn't have WORN it home. Why'd she do that? She had her own jacket. It was still in the coat closet at work.

Angelo walked up to the leather jacket and started sniffing at the fur collar.

"Angelo, NO!" Rinoa whined. She knew she shouldn't yell at her dog. It wasn't the dog's fault. Rinoa just didn't want the guy's coat to smell like her dog when she returned it. The whole situation was odd enough to begin with.

She really had to figure out how to return it to him without it being weird. Well, it was already weird, but she wanted it to be less weird than it already was.

She covered her face with her hands. She'd only worked at this new job for two days and she was having so many stupid problems already.

Okay, starting tomorrow, she was going to get back on track to being professional. No more weird stuff.

But first she had to give that jacket back.

She would just return the jacket to him tomorrow at work and pretend that it had slipped her mind that she still had it. Maybe she should show up to work really early and just leave it on his office chair.

That sounded like a plan.

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm really looking forward to posting the next chapter. I think it's pretty funny. Please read and review!


	5. Chapter 5: Break Room

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

Chapter 5 - Break Room

 _And it's back,_ Squall thought to himself while looking at the leather jacket that was slung over his office chair. He stood at the entrance to his cubicle and adjusted his tie. He hadn't been looking forward to going another cold Balamb day without his leather jacket, but thankfully he didn't need to.

Yesterday when he gave, wait no, LENDED his jacket to the receptionist during the fire drill, he thought she'd have it for 10 to 15 minutes at the most. He hadn't thought she'd take it like it was her own. Did she think it was a present?

Squall started thinking sarcastically.

 _Here's something I'd think you'd like, a used men's jacket. I know you're a petite woman, and it wouldn't fit you, but here you go anyways. It'd do you much more good than it'd do me, the man who purchased it for himself so he wouldn't be cold. I'm fine going around in my thin dress shirt, don't worry about me._

Squall shook himself out of his gruff mood. It was easy to get irritated when you were cold and wet. He also felt like he'd gone out on a limb yesterday doing something kind for a stranger. He felt that kindness had been taken advantage of.

 _No good deed goes unpunished,_ Squall thought.

But was it really a punishment to see Rinoa in his coat? He'd actually enjoyed it to a certain extent, maybe not as much as she had, but still. There was something sort of sexy about seeing her in his clothes. He wasn't sure why because it wasn't as if his clothes fit her correctly. His jacket looked extra big and bulky on her slender frame and the sleeves fell far over her hands. But somehow it was, if he were to be honest with himself, hot.

Was that strange or creepy? He hoped not. And who would know? He definitely wasn't going to ask Seifer or Irvine for any input on the subject. Squall figured he'd keep it to himself and try not to picture her in any more articles of his clothing.

Ever the pessimist, he reached out and picked up the coat to see if there had been any damage done by Rinoa. No scratches or stains. It looked the same. He went through the pockets, just to be sure. There was nothing there. It was fine.

What was he hoping for? For there to be damage so he could talk to her again. Or for her to leave her phone number or address in his pocket? He knit his eyebrows together at the realization that maybe he HAD been hoping for that. Most women wouldn't have done that, but Squall Leonahart had realized long ago that Rinoa was not most women. Actually it wasn't that long ago, he'd only known her for a few days now. Was this just her third day? It felt like she'd been there forever.

He continued to hold the coat and he suddenly noticed there was a difference. Was there a smell to it now? He turned and made sure nobody was around before giving it a brief whiff. He held it under his nose. He smelled a light women's perfume or shampoo and... he gave it a deeper whiff. Something musky and animal-like.

 _Dog?_ he wondered. His beloved leather jacket now smelled like wet dog. _Great._

He threw the jacket back down onto his chair.

* * *

Squall looked down at the countertop in the break room with disdain. He'd been at work for a few hours and he needed a caffeinated pick-me-up, but he would have to make it himself first. There were coarse granules of sugar and clumpy bits of non-dairy creamer smeared across the Formica. He hated it when people didn't clean up after themselves. This was one of many reasons why he was glad he didn't have a roommate. At least when he went home it would be kept to his standard of cleanliness. And even if he made a mess, it would be his own mess.

Squall's hand hovered near a roll of paper towels. The mess bothered him, but it wasn't his. He paused for a few seconds before becoming frustrated with himself. He quickly reached out and took a paper towel before wetting it in the sink and wiping off the counter aggressively. When he was done, he threw it across the room and it landed in the corner wastebasket with a wet thud. He felt better.

He turned back around and attended to the coffee maker. He'd soon have a new cup of coffee. Then he could go back to his cube. He drummed his fingers on the countertop while staring at the scratched white cabinet in front of him. The coffee started percolating.

He heard footsteps behind him and his shoulders tensed. He hoped he wouldn't get caught in some sort of stupid work conversation about the weather.

He turned his head slightly to see who it was and his pulse increased.

The new girl was in the same room with him!

He gripped the countertop until his knuckles turned white and he kept staring at the cabinet in front of him. The coffee pot bubbled loudly. He turned slightly and caught a reflection of her in the shiny microwave door. She seemed lost.

 _How should I spend my mini-break?_ Rinoa thought to herself.

Rinoa looked around the break room to take in the sight. She'd been there before a few times, but not on her own. The room was drab and gray and used looking. She thought somebody should liven up the place. She was surprised Selphie hadn't done anything to it. Maybe there was a policy against it.

She noticed that there wasn't much in the break room beyond the usual. Small kitchenette, microwave, refrigerator, water cooler, and a table with chairs. It was pretty empty except for a guy who was standing quietly by the coffee maker with his back to her.

She gave the back of his head a closer look. His hair looked familiar. For some reason she could picture that brown hair dampened and flecked with tiny raindrops.

She nearly gasped out loud. It was Squall, the jacket guy!

She'd been thinking about him a lot since yesterday, and maybe her imagination had run off with her. She was a teensy bit nervous being in the same room with him now. Although she noticed that he looked less dashing and gentlemanly than she had envisioned last night while trying to fall asleep. Right now he just looked like an office worker making coffee.

She tried to calm down.

Rinoa had arrived to work extra early today so she could leave his coat on his office chair without having to talk to him. After what happened at the fire drill yesterday, she just wanted to avoid him for awhile. Although maybe avoiding him would draw attention to yesterday's weirdness. So maybe she should pretend that everything was normal and hope that he wouldn't mention anything about yesterday. As far as she concerned, once she returned his coat, no matter how belatedly, the awkward situation between them was officially over.

Today was a new day and she was going to pretend that everything was normal. Rinoa was just a normal person having a normal break, in the company break room. Normal. Acting normally.

Maybe she should calm down and have a snack, that was a normal thing to do.

She looked over at a wicker basket full of Phoenix's line of different energy bars. There were so many different types. She didn't know which one to choose. It was weird that she worked for this company, but had never even eaten one of its products. Luckily it hadn't come up in her interview. Now that she thought about it, her interview with Cid didn't seem very comprehensive or professional.

Well, she was hired, so it wasn't her problem now.

She looked at the shiny foil wrappers with cute cartoon mascots on them. The names weren't cluing her into what the flavors were. Maybe they all tasted the same, like cardboard or something. If they did, she'd be careful not to say that out loud at work. She didn't want to get fired. Although she still didn't know that was probably not possible.

She picked up one and looked over the wrapper. Weird looking green monsters stared back at her. Tonberries. Did it taste like berries? She picked up another. It had a firebird on it with feathers flying around it in a swirl. Phoenix Down. That didn't really explain the flavor. Mega-elixir? Chocobo-crunch?

"Do you have a favorite?" Rinoa asked while looking at the wrapper, pretending that they were on casual speaking terms and that everything was normal.

 _Is she talking to me?_ Squall thought while his shoulders hunched together in alarm. She had to be talking to him. There wasn't anybody else around. So the strange new girl was talking to him. Should he turn around?

What was his favorite?

 _You,_ he thought, somewhat to his own surprise.

"..." Squall didn't say anything to her.

 _Did he hear me?_ Rinoa thought. She lifted her head up and looked over at Squall's back. He hadn't even turned around.

"Do you have a favorite?" she asked again.

"Favorite?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Yea, do you like the taste of a Phoenix Down?" she asked. "Do you think I'd like it?"

 _The bars. She's asking about the energy bars!_ Squall thought to himself. Although he was relieved that she wasn't asking anything personal, or mentioning his jacket, the one she so obviously enjoyed yesterday, he was also slightly disappointed.

If he looking for another awkward exchange, he wasn't going to get it. It was just a work related question. The disappointment turned bitter in his stomach.

"They're revitalizing," Squall said automatically. "Bring you back from the brink."

"Yes, I can read the wrapper too," Rinoa said with a smile in her voice. He hadn't given her any information that the slogan hadn't already. "But do you like it?" She was just trying to have a normal chatty work conversation.

"I don't need to be revitalized," Squall said flatly, not looking at her and staying disengaged and distant.

"Are you sure you don't?" she asked without thinking.

 _What?_ Squall thought, feeling defensive.

He turned around to look at her. "Seifer is the salesman. He'd be able to tell you more about the product line." He was starting to get flustered by her again.

"But he's not here," Rinoa said teasingly while taking a step closer, "and I'm not asking _him_." She took another step. "And I don't need to be _sold_ anything. These are free and I just wanted your opinion." She leaned her body towards him.

 _Rinoa, just be quiet,_ she screamed at herself. She didn't know why she kept talking like this to him. _Be normal! He's a nice guy, who happens to be shy. Just leave him alone!_ And why was she walking closer to him?

"My opinion doesn't matter," Squall said with an edge, feeling her approach. She was so close now that he could smell her shampoo, it was the same sent that lingered on his leather jacket. "It has nothing to do with your likes or tastes," he said.

 _Why are you saying those things?_ Squall yelled at himself internally while his heart thumped in his chest. _And why'd you bring up Seifer of all people?_

Rinoa's back straightened at his response, and she leaned away from him. Not very friendly or talkative. Curt, rude, or just really awkward? She couldn't decide.

Maybe he wasn't as nice as she thought, jacket-giver or not.

"Wow, no wonder you aren't the company salesman," she blurted out, taking a step away.

 _What is that supposed to mean?_ Squall thought angrily.

Although he knew what that meant. He wasn't the smoothest at social interactions.

Squall kept his face still as he shrugged at her. He wasn't the salesman, that was true. He didn't pretend to be, so she shouldn't have a problem with it. Selling things wasn't his job. Spreadsheets and making the numbers tally up right was his job. As long as he didn't pretend any differently, there shouldn't be any problem.

Why would she complain about that? Was she trying to get on his nerves on purpose? He was starting to rethink whether or not he found her attractive. Sure, she was good looking, and he her hair smelled nice, but she was also weird. Sometimes she seemed timid and unsure of herself and other times she seemed oddly forward and pushy. He was getting confused by her. He decided that he was just going to get his coffee and leave the room and _not_ think about her anymore. He had work to do.

"Next thing, you'll be telling me not to try ever eating one at all," she said while crinkling the wrapped energy bar in her hand absentmindedly.

Squall was stunned by her accidental admission. Did she just say what he thought she did?

"Try?" he asked. "You work here and you never tried one?"

 _Oops,_ she thought.

"What I meant was..." Rinoa said, trying to think of something.

Squall couldn't believe this. So this person got a job here at Phoenix without knowing anything about the company. And that wasn't her only problem. She couldn't read an email about an upcoming fire drill. She didn't have the sense to bring a coat with her when it was damp and cold outside. She also didn't have the courtesy to give a jacket back in a timely manner. And she didn't even have the judgment to keep quiet about not knowing anything about the company she worked for.

What was Cid thinking when he hired her?

He scrapped his plan to leave the break room with his coffee. He had to say something first.

"You went for an interview with a company without doing any basic research?" he asked in surprise.

Was he more surprised that she did that or was he more surprised that she got the job?

He'd done his research for the company before his interview. And before his second interview he'd even taste tested every single flavor just in case it was relevant to any of the interview questions. It wasn't, but he was prepared. He was always prepared.

But this new girl just seemed to show up and get a job without knowing anything.

Maybe he was trying too hard in life.

"Actually this one is my favorite," Rinoa said while grabbing one. "Nice and sweet," she added trying to cover for her earlier shortcoming.

"That one has chili peppers and caffeine in it," Squall answered flatly. She really didn't know anything about the Phoenix line did she? There were a lot of quirky flavors.

 _Chili peppers and caffeine?_ she thought in horror. That was so gross she forgot about everything strange that had happened yesterday.

Rinoa stuck her tongue out in disgust and looked down at the wrapper. So that's what was in the Phoenix Down? Fiery firebird with a punch of caffeinated energy? Gross. Was this bar some kind of hangover cure? Is that why college students ate these? Maybe it was a weird dare sort of thing.

"Yea, that's my favorite combo," she said unconvincingly.

"I doubt that," Squall said while looking straight at her.

 _How dare he?!_ Rinoa thought, angry at being called out on her obvious lie. Who was this guy? He didn't know her. She stood up straighter and put one of her hands on her hips. And this wasn't typical behavior of a shy person. A shy person would have just nodded at the lie and left her unchallenged.

"For your information, I put hot sauce in my coffee in the morning to wake up," Rinoa countered. Where did that come from? Why was she getting so argumentative? She wondered if somebody had turned up the thermostat, it was feeling hot in there.

"I'm sure it's your favorite combination of flavors, okay?" Squall said, not wanting to get in a stupid argument with her. He could clearly see her angry body posture, it was so obvious even he could notice it. He figured it was time to get going.

Squall looked around, his coffee in hand. He eyed the doorway to make a quick escape, but Rinoa blocked him. She wasn't done being angry at him. He shifted to walk around her, but she leaned in the same direction. He shifted again and she mirrored him. Was she doing this on purpose? He was just trying to leave.

The more they couldn't get around each other, the more ridiculous the situation got. At this point Rinoa really was trying to avoid bumping into him, but she just couldn't, they were synched. She went from being irritated to being amused. She started giggling at him. He moved to leave again and they couldn't get past each other. Now she was laughing so hard she was becoming out of breath.

"Wait, wait," she said. "Let me just," Rinoa said as she tried to let him by, but she accidentally stumbled and bumped into his coffee mug, spilling hot liquid all over Squall's white shirt and charcoal gray pants.

Squall jumped back in surprise and pain. The coffee just had been made and the liquid was near boiling temperatures. Rinoa gasped and covered her mouth.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to..." she trailed off. She should have just left him alone. What had gotten into her?

"It's fine," Squall said while the pain burned through his chest. The dark stain was spreading through his shirt. The pain! And he wasn't even taking into account his crotch.

Rinoa ran grab a wad of paper towels, her earlier anger completely forgotten. She balled them up in her fist and splashed cold water over them in the sink before turning back towards Squall. She started blotting at his chest while he stood there still in shock.

"Oh no! I got your pants too!" Rinoa gasped, just seeing how much damage she'd done.

Squall reached out and grabbed the paper towels away from her before she could start blotting at anywhere more personal.

"I got it. It's fine," he said while turning his back to her. He hoped she'd get the hint and leave him alone. He kept blotting at his shirt, spreading the stain around. Now that the coffee had cooled off, he'd gone from overly hot to chilled. Goosebumps started appearing on his forearms.

"You've got to rinse that out or it'll stain your shirt," Rinoa said. "I can help."

Squall's face fell. She obviously wasn't going anywhere.

"I've had enough of your _help_ ," Squall said, his voice stressing the last word and going low. Crotch pain didn't improve his already sour mood.

She didn't know this man very well, but that came across to her as being overly harsh. Rinoa's eyes started watering. She blinked back tears, glad that he wasn't looking at her. She knew she'd screwed up, but it wasn't intentional. Sometimes people spilled things. Did he have to be so mean about it?

She turned her feet towards the door, intending to leave the break room. She felt guilty for ruining his clothes. Maybe she should just give up and leave him alone. She took a step. And then another step. Then she halted.

Actually no, she shouldn't leave feeling guilty. She was innocent, at least her intentions were. And he was a big stubborn jerk! She was just trying to help, and he better accept her help right now! Now that she'd thought it through, she was still angry, and that gave her strength.

She abruptly turned back towards him and tugged at the back of his white dress shirt, catching him off guard. His eyes opened in shock and he started tipping backwards. He tried to regain his balance, but she tugged on his shirt again, pulling him down. He rocked back on his dress shoes, hoping he wouldn't slip and fall. Dress shoes weren't known for their good traction, especially on glossy linoleum floors. She tugged again, and a button popped off and went flying into the sink with a few tiny clinks.

"Just let me help you rinse that stain out before it sets," Rinoa said, ignoring the damage she was doing. She actually wasn't the best at doing laundry, as she'd grown up with a maid who did those sorts of things for her family. But she'd seen a lot of TV commercials for laundry soap when she was watching dramas. She was pretty sure what she said was correct. She just had to get enough of his shirt off so she could angrily stuff it under the sink faucet.

 _What is happening?_ Squall thought.

Squall couldn't believe it. He felt like he was being physically attacked. His shirt was halfway unbuttoned at the bottom, skin showing. And if this girl had her way, he'd clearly be on the way to becoming completely shirtless too. At least his pants were on tight, for now. That was the nice thing about wearing a belt, it protected you from stuff like this. Maybe he should wear more than one belt if this girl continued to work here.

Squall leaned away from her, trying to edge away from the sink. If she didn't let go soon, this was going to turn into a shirtless wrestling match.

"Just stop fighting me!" Rinoa said with another forceful yank. Another button flew off. This time Rinoa actually noticed the button flying away. Her earlier surge of anger ebbed away and she realized what she was doing. What was she thinking? She looked up and met Squall's bewildered blue eyes and let go of his shirt.

"Maybe I got a little carried away," she said. Tears built up in her eyes. "Oopsies," she added.

She took a step backwards before turning around. Rinoa ran out of the room, the tears that had been in her eyes started leaking out as she ran. What was she doing? She couldn't believe herself. Right as she exited the room she nearly bumped into Quistis.

The last thing Rinoa remembered thinking as she ran past Quistis was that Squall had surprisingly toned abs. So ripped, so smooth.

As she heard Rinoa running down the hallway, Quistis stood there with her mouth hanging open, trying to understand the scene before her. While the wheels in her head turned, her glasses started to slip down the bridge of her nose. She noticed that Squall stood there with a stunned look on his face and too much skin showing.

Professionally speaking as the office manager, this didn't look good.

* * *

Author's notes: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Please read and review. (And thanks for all the reviews so far! They really make my day and motivate me to write more of this story.)


	6. Chapter 6: Mandatory Training

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

Chapter 6 - Mandatory Training

* * *

Squall stared angrily at his laptop screen, and his screen stared back at him. He normally didn't have to bring work home with him, but tonight was different.

"Welcome to Phoenix's Sexual Harassment Module," it had printed at the top of the screen in big blue-green letters.

He couldn't believe he had to take a refresher course on the company's sexual harassment policy because of what happened earlier in the week with Rinoa. Everyone had to sit through a sexual harassment seminar from time to time, but it was as a group and part of ongoing training. He'd never been singled out because of an incident. Seifer had, and so had Irvine, but never Squall. And he had to take it on his own time and in his own home.

It wasn't fair.

If, and that was a big if, there had been a sexual harassment incident at work, he would have been the _victim_. Rinoa clearly was the aggressor in the situation. Not that he felt she'd done what she'd done _on purpose_. Although how she managed to spill hot coffee on his crotch and halfway rip off his shirt without doing it on purpose, he didn't know. That took some talent.

What had she been thinking when she was wrestling with him? Maybe she wasn't thinking at all. Squall tended to over think things, and maybe that wasn't always a bad thing. Squall surely wouldn't have tried to rip off her shirt in the break room, not that required serious thinking on his part.

Rinoa. She certainly was different than him. She was different than a lot of people. Why did she vacillate between being timid and unsure and being bold and argumentative? Who was this strange person?

Even though the situation was odd, he was pretty sure there hadn't been any sexual misconduct _intended_ on her part.

Although, if she wanted to sexually harass him, how much worse would it have been? He supposed that she could have actually made contact with his crotch if he hadn't blocked her. But still, that was a thoughtless action from a sudden accident. What would she have done if she _really_ wanted to harass him?

He tried to imagine, but made himself stop. This wasn't a good use of his time. And he didn't have to imagine, there was always next week, and who knew what she'd do then? She'd only been at Phoenix for a few days. If she stayed for much longer, Squall had a feeling a lot more funny business was going to be happening.

He sighed and raked his hands through his hair. A few days? He couldn't believe it had only been a few days. Not even a week, and now he couldn't even remember what the office was like without her. He used to be able to go to work and come home without incident, and now something was always happening. It was frustrating. _She_ was frustrating.

He didn't think he'd be so distracted by a woman. It wasn't like there weren't woman at the office already. And the woman there weren't unattractive. With her poise, figure, and long blonde hair, Quistis could be a model. She could literally be in ads for high end department stores. Squall could imagine her in a stylized back and white advertisement that you wouldn't even know what it was for. It would be mysterious and expensive. Or at the very least, she could be a local beauty queen. Quistis was beautiful, talented, and special. Squall didn't know how she wound up at their little company when she could be destined for greater things.

And Quistis wasn't the only woman at work either. There was Selphie, and Squall figured that she was somewhat okay, in a girl next door sort of way. She'd probably seem more than okay if she didn't stand too close to Quistis, but that was her bad luck to be in such close proximity to a total knock out. And speaking of Selphie's bad luck, her hairstyle was regrettably distinctive. Her upcurled and flouncy hair made her seem comical, quirky, and pixie-ish, and therefore it was hard to take her seriously. Squall didn't know if she wanted to be taken seriously, but he was sure she didn't want to be the punch line for any of Seifer's mean jokes. But odd hairstyles aside, she had a cute enough face and very nice legs considering how short she was. He didn't know how somebody who was that small could appear to have such long slim legs. He didn't mean to look at her legs, but her skirts were on the revealing side. It would have been impossible to not notice. He was a man after all.

 _A disgusting man,_ Squall thought to himself. He suddenly realized that he was rating the woman at work. He was filled with distaste for himself. He was turning into Seifer. Or maybe deep down, he was always like Seifer. Maybe he was just better at hiding his less savory side instead of broadcasting it. _Maybe I DO need to take this sexual harassment course,_ he thought.

But his point was that he'd seen women. Cute ones. Attractive ones. Short ones. Tall ones. Why was Rinoa upsetting his world when the others hadn't? How was she distracting him so much?

It had to be more than physical attraction. If she was just a pretty face, he'd steer clear of her from now on. It wouldn't be worth the irritation. But for some reason he couldn't stop thinking about her. Why? He was feeling like a infatuated teenager. And that didn't make sense. He didn't even feel that way when he was an actual teen.

What was wrong with him that he was attracted to a disaster like Rinoa?

Why couldn't he be attracted to somebody like Quistis? They had more in common. They both worked hard and were good at their jobs. And if Squall hadn't been imagining things, he didn't think Quistis would be repulsed by him. It would make more sense.

Or better yet, why couldn't he just be attracted to nobody at all. That way he could just go about his business without all these ups and downs. He could live a safe and predictable life. That's what he wanted, wasn't it?

Safe and predictable? Squall imagined a safe and predictable life. He would live like a reclusive bachelor until he died. He'd would pour his life into a job and be given nothing but a paycheck in return. The day after he retired or dropped dead from a heart attack, he'd be replaced by a nameless and faceless younger person, forgotten and mourned by nobody.

That life sounded boring at best and tragic at worst.

What did Squall want out of life?

He didn't know.

He didn't know anything.

His brain puttered to a standstill. Eyes staring. Body immobilized. Time seemed to go on without him.

His eyelid twitched and he suddenly came to his senses. He realized he was staring at his glowing laptop screen. He looked down at his hand where it was curved around the mouse still. Had he been sitting there for seconds? Had he been sitting there for minutes?

He looked up and noticed that the Sexual Harassment Module was waiting for him. He took a deep breath and knew that it wasn't going to complete itself, life crisis or not. He just wanted to get it over with and report back to Quistis. That was a concrete goal he could achieve tonight.

He clicked on the opening video.

A man in a suit started explaining what sexual harassment was and how to avoid it. Squall only half paid attention as there wasn't anything in the video that any decent human being would construe as anything _but_ sexual harassment. He was also distracted by the man's dated looking clothes and hairstyle.

This video was old, but not _that_ old. The man's look was a testament to the fact that time doesn't stand still. It forever marches forward, thus making his haircut look more regrettable every year. Squall's mind wandered. He wondered if his own clothes would look stupid in only a few years time. Would he look at old photos of himself and laugh?

He didn't usually take photos of himself, so the chances of that were slim.

Squall suddenly realized that the man had finally stopped talking. The dry lecture was over. Now he just had to sit through a series of scenarios that were going to be acted out.

Squall wondered how embarrassing these scenarios were going to be. Sexual harassment was a serious and uncomfortable subject. Were they going to be adult, graphic, or lewd?

The video started. It showed a generic workplace setting. Squall waited for something to happen and cringed in awkward anticipation.

His eyebrows raised as some people in low quality moogle and chocobo costumes walked out.

This hadn't been what he'd been expecting.

The chocobos had ties on, and the moogle had a big pink bow on top of her head. He imagined that meant the chocobos were male and the moogle was female. He felt this setup seemed more suited for children's programming and not a sexual harassment training video. Squall wondered if they were trying to make the scenes more palatable by using cute characters.

Squall's eyebrows knit together as the scene progressed. What were they saying? He wasn't listening. He still couldn't get over the fact that he was watching moogles and chocobos in a sexual harassment video.

Suddenly a chocobo reached out and patted the female moogle on the butt. The moogle covered her face with her overly huge paws and wiggled from side to side in exaggerated embarrassment. Squall's mouth fell open.

What were they thinking?

Sometimes he felt like he was all alone in the world. The sole sane person left on the planet.

Firstly, he felt that cutesy scene just trivialized sexual harassment. He felt that was the opposite of what they were trying to do. Sexual harassment was a serious subject and it shouldn't be taken lightly. Secondly, why would chocobos be attracted to moogles? They were different species! This bothered Squall more than it should have.

Squall really hoped they didn't have a company training video concerning racism.

Another scene started. The two chocobos were talking about their weekend beside a water cooler, their voices were muffled through their costumes. The female moogle walked by. The chocobos stared after her and started talking in veiled tones about things they could do with the moogle. The moogle's posture changed and she walked away uncomfortably. Squall was alone in his apartment but he pushed away from his computer and looked over his shoulder to see if anybody was watching him.

Why'd he feel like the guilty one? The chocobos were the ones being inappropriate. Was this thing over yet? Hadn't he been punished enough?

The things he'd endure for Rinoa!

At the end of the scene, a narrator said that this constituted sexual harassment in the workplace.

 _Really? Thanks for enlightening me,_ Squall thought.

The whole video rankled Squall's sensibilities. And not only because it assumed he was an idiot, but also because of the poorly acted scenarios. Maybe he could have avoided this cutesy moogle/chocobo fueled humiliation if he'd just explained what had really happened to Quistis. He could have walked right up to her in the break room while still covered in coffee stains and said what had happened. She wouldn't have had time to imagine the worst scenarios possible.

But he didn't even try, and his silence condemned him.

He knew how bad it looked when she and had walked in. Rinoa running away from him with tears in her eyes while he had his shirt half off. And he couldn't explain it without making Rinoa look bad, so he'd decided to shut his mouth and take whatever Quistis dished out. Rinoa was still pretty new at the company and he didn't want her getting fired. Not that he thought that was a fireable offense, but who knew what other screw ups she'd be doing in this coming week alone? He didn't want her to have a huge tally of missteps against her.

He didn't want her to get fired. He didn't want her to leave. He could deal with this stupid sexual harassment refresher.

The terrible chocobo/moogle video finished and he had a slideshow of randomly generated questions pop up suddenly. They were about knowing what appropriate behavior in the workplace was. He had to click on whether an action was 'okay' or not for a workplace. Squall figured that all the scenarios would be painfully obvious.

He figured it was time to get started, at least it would be something to do and it didn't involve any stupid chocobos. He clicked to start.

"Saying hello to a coworker," it stated.

 _I guess they are starting off very easy,_ he thought.

He clicked on "okay."

 _I can't believe I have to do this,_ he thought while drumming his fingertips on the edge of his laptop.

"Saying happy birthday to a coworker."

 _I wouldn't say it, but it's okay._

He clicked on "okay," with a fast tap of his finger.

"Talking about the weather with a coworker."

 _This is stupid._

He clicked on "okay." His brain started to turn off.

"Talking about sports with a coworker."

He clicked on "okay."

"Talking about weekend sexual exploits with a coworker."

He clicked on "okay."

 _WAIT! No! Undo! Undo! Is there an undo button?_ he thought frantically. That escalated too quickly and he hadn't been paying attention. He'd just lightly skimmed it and only saw the talking about the weekend part.

The screen flashed red to let him know he'd selected the wrong answer. A little box popped up to tell him that it was not okay to talk about sexual exploits with a coworker. It said that it counted as sexual harassment and is banned. The workplace setting should be free of conversations containing that sort of content because it makes a hostile environment.

Squall shook his hair over his face and sighed. He felt like an idiot. He'd never do something like that in a workplace or anywhere in public, and let's face it, he probably wouldn't do that in private with friends either. Who would do that and think it was okay?

He immediately envisioned Seifer's smirking face and Irvine's sly grins. Okay, maybe they would, but he definitely wouldn't. He grew irritated at his mistake, but all he could do at this point was to proceed with the module and try to pay better attention to the questions. Onward to finishing this thing!

"Asking what exercises a coworker does to keep his/her body in such great shape."

He clicked on "NOT OKAY," with a great deal of force to make his point, not that anybody was at home to see. He lifted his chin and stared at the screen in a challenge. Let's just see if this thing will try to trick him again. He would make sure his mind stayed cautious to the end.

"Talking about sexual positions with a coworker," it stated, waiting for him to make a judgment call.

 _Seriously?_

"NOT OKAY," he selected with a click. "NOT OKAY," he said out loud to nobody. "I know damn well that's NOT OKAY!" he said irritably, still embarrassed by his earlier mistake. He was the sort of person to wallow in his mistakes, and that's why he tried so hard not to make them in the first place. It was a sort of self-protection. He'd be up at night thinking of this, and probably years in the future he'd remember it again with irritation. Were other people bothered by their mistakes as much as he was? Probably not.

Squall pushed away from his laptop and ran his hands over his face. This stupid thing was making him crazy. Was Quistis going to see that he'd made a mistake like that? He didn't want to go in for more sexual harassment training. He could just imagine what that would be like. She would probably make it a one-on-one session alone in her office. She could teach everybody a thing or two about sexual harassment.

He envisioned himself alone in Quistis' office with her. She sat on the edge of her desk towering over where he sat with her lip twitching with a look of disapproval or maybe disappointment. She stood up and smoothed her hands over the hem of her deep coral pencil skirt while walking towards him. She leaned over him, her blond hair falling out of her clip brushing over her fitted white shirt and then brushing over his shoulders. He turned his head to the side at the proximity of her, so he wouldn't see down her shirt. He could just imagine her asking, "does this count as sexual harassment Squall?" in his ear.

He shuddered at the discomfort of a scenario with his boss that had NOT even occurred. Although he figured given the right set of circumstances, it could. And probably would if she'd been drinking. But why would she be drinking in her office at night before giving him a sexual harassment training session?

Alone? At night?

He scrubbed his hand through his hair furiously.

This stupid thing was making him think of sex too much!

Why was he becoming so imaginative lately? And why was he envisioning this in such great detail if he thought he'd be repulsed by it? He was glad Quistis couldn't read his mind, not in the office and certainly not now. His thoughts would probably count as sexual harassment against her. But that's why he'd never tell anybody. Although in contrast, this was the sort of thing that Seifer would say out loud and to everybody. Squall hoped nobody ever found out that he had any little thing in common with Seifer. He'd keep it a secret.

Squall Leonhart, secret pervert.

He hurried and tried to finish the rest of the training module, but he was careful to not make any more mistakes. Within a few minutes he was nearing the end. He only had to sit through a few more chocobo/moogle scenarios.

In one of the scenarios, a moogle was wearing a tight fitting short dress and the chocobos were making crude comments about her appearance. It was one of the 'do not do this' sort of scenarios.

It was particularly funny to Squall because in all the previous scenarios, the moogle had been wearing nothing, just like the chocobos. Were they all suppose to be naked? Either way, Squall 'learned' his lesson that it wasn't right to comment about a coworker's sexy or not sexy appearance.

 _Thanks a lot moogles and chocobos._

He hoped it was almost over.

"Remember sexual harassment begins and ends with you," the chocobos and moogles sang while waving jazz hands and dancing enthusiastically for 20 seconds before fading to black. Cheap midi music began playing while the credits rolled.

Squall didn't think that made much sense, but he was relieved that it was finally over. He looked at the clock in the bottom right of his computer screen. It had taken him nearly an hour! What a waste of time. And he wasn't a sexual harasser who need to learn his lesson.

If anybody should have taken this module, it should have been Rinoa. One reason was because she was new, and it would be required of her eventually if she stayed. Another reason was because she tried to take his shirt off and got overly close to the crotch of his pants with a ball of wet paper towels.

 _Trying to blot a coworker's pants with a ball of wet paper towels. NOT OKAY._

Squall smirked at the memory. He'd been flustered and angry when it had happened, not to mention the pain of burning hot liquid against his skin, but now the whole ordeal was starting to seem kind of funny. Was she really going to try to get the stain off of the front of his pants? What was she thinking? Or maybe she was going to try and wrangle him out of his pants in the break room? Better turn his imagination off now before it ran away with him again.

He let out a dry laugh. The new girl was different, that was for sure. And the look of shock and horror on her face when she'd realized what she was doing was ridiculous. Her pretty face had flushed so quickly, she'd nearly turned purple and lost her balance. Her deep colored eyes turned glassy with tears. He felt a little bad about being so amused by it. The smile faded from his face.

If he'd been embarrassed by it, he wondered what she felt about it. Was she thinking of it at all? Was she thinking of _him_?

He cleared his throat and swallowed, suddenly insecure and shy despite being alone.

He straightened up quickly, deciding that it was late and he should get to bed. He reasoned that he needed his rest in order to function at work the next day. He pushed his laptop away from himself and went towards his bedroom, dragging his feet.

* * *

Hours later, he lay in bed looking up at the dark ceiling. Sleep still hadn't come to him. He'd tossed and turned, switching from his back to his sides countless times over the past few hours. The bedsprings creaked with every movement, whining their complaints.

He couldn't stop thinking about the state of his life. What was he doing with himself? What was the point of it all? Was he on the right track? Was he doing well? Did people like or respect him? Should he even care what other people thought?

While he was filled with his usual existential dread that often kept him up at night, interspersed throughout those anxieties were thoughts of Rinoa. He thought of her beautiful face and somewhat goofy smile. He thought of her soft dark hair and her kind demeanor towards others. He also thought of her ridiculous and pushy attitude that came out of nowhere sometimes. Overall, she was a mixed bag. But what he mostly was thinking of, was that it was her fault that he couldn't stop thinking about chocobos and moogles at 3 am.

He closed his eyes tightly and wished he could just turn his brain off and let sleep take him.

He was going to be a mess at work tomorrow.

* * *

Author's notes: Some of these horrible scenarios and questions were based on real life occurrences, sadly. Poor Squall! Please read & review.


	7. Chapter 7: Working for the Weekend

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

Chapter 7: Working for the Weekend

* * *

"Thank you for completing your," Quistis took a long pause, "online training session," another pause, "in such a timely manner.

Squall nodded at her from where he sat across from her desk. He kept his eyes forward while not making direct contact with her eyes or her body. He stared at the wall behind her, wishing he were talking to it instead of her. He was just grateful that she didn't say the term "sexual harassment" out loud in front on him. She was treating this very delicately.

"You didn't need to finish it that quickly, but it's appreciated," she continued.

"I wanted to finish it immediately and put this behind me," Squall said. He completed the module less than 24 hours after the incident took place. It was as quickly he could do it, but he would have done it even faster if it had been possible.

"Good. I hope this incident, whatever it was, won't be repeated, Mr. Leonhart," Quistis said.

Squall didn't know exactly what it was either, but he would try his hardest for it to not happen again. No matter what Rinoa did to him, he'd keep his clothes 100% on, at least while he was at work. Wait, why did he just think that? What he meant was that no matter what, he'd repel Rinoa's inappropriate advances, or whatever they were. Rinoa was stronger than she looked, but Squall was obviously stronger. Why hadn't he been able to stop what she'd been doing? How did he let a petite young woman overpower him? Did he let it happen because his subconscious mind was enjoying the her attention and closeness?

He pushed that thought away from himself as quickly as it came to him.

He nodded while staring straight forward, pretending that he was giving Quistis his complete attention.

Quistis stood up from her cushy office chair and walked around her desk. She came close to his seated form and towered over him in her heels. "Squall, I have high expectations for you. Please don't let me down again," she said in a quieter tone. She then continued to walk slowly towards the door of her office. She opened the door and beckoned for him to leave. Once he left, she let the door remain open.

Squall let out an inward sigh of relief now that he knew the awkward grilling session with his superior was over. He had wasted no time in getting up and leaving. It had been getting hot in there, and he just wanted to go back to his desk to cool off.

His footsteps were nearly noiseless as he trekked back to his cubicle. Maybe nobody had noticed that he'd been in Quistis' office at all, he hadn't been in there long.

"How is the lovely Ms. Trepe doing today?" Seifer asked as Squall passed his cubicle.

Of course Seifer would notice.

"Ask her yourself," Squall answered, quickly taking a seat and busying himself with a stack of printouts. They were just junk, but Seifer didn't know that. He kept his eyes on his 'work.'

"What topic were you two discussing in there?" Seifer asked, continuing to pry.

Seifer could torture him, and Squall still wouldn't say anything about the strange break room incident. Squall could keep a secret, and apparently Quistis could too. He didn't know Rinoa very well, but he was grateful that she hadn't said anything to anybody yesterday. If she had, Seifer would be talking about it. Once somebody knew something in their office, everybody knew it. It was too hard to keep secrets in such a small place. Rinoa probably kept silent because she was embarrassed and didn't want people to know.

He was safe, at least for now, but Seifer would keep prying unless Squall diverted his attention. Squall had to make up an answer and quickly. And he couldn't sound defensive about it either. If he sounded defensive, Seifer would know he was hiding something. Squall's mind got to work trying to formulate a plan. Being specific would lead to more questions, so he had to avoid that. And he couldn't make up an interesting response either, as that would also lead to more questions. He decided that being boring would be the best strategy to get Seifer off his back.

"Something wasn't tallying up correctly on my spreadsheets," Squall said while not looking at Seifer. He didn't like lying. It was easier to be honest because there was no need to remember anything but reality.

Also, he wasn't good at lying. It wasn't a skill he'd ever had to learn.

"If you can't do math Leonhart, you're in the wrong job," Seifer said. "The least you could do would be to use a calculator. Although that doesn't explain why you were discussing it alone and with her office door shut," Seifer reasoned.

"It was a monetary discrepancy," Squall said while licking his dry lips. "Sensitive subject about a client," he added. None of that was remotely true, but Squall hoped his explanation sounded boring enough to end further questioning from Seifer. "We were going through the numbers and..." Squall trailed off while sensing Seifer's attention drifting away.

Seifer's eyes glazed over as he nodded his head at Squall. He was hoping for a more interesting and dramatic answer after Squall's closed door encounter with Quistis. Although he doubted anything exciting had actually happened in there, but he figured that Squall could at least throw him a dirty joke or an innuendo to liven up his morning. But Leonhart was too straightlaced for anything like that. Seifer had gotten his hopes up for nothing.

"Nerd," Seifer muttered under his breath while turning away from Squall.

For the second time that morning, Squall felt relieved.

* * *

"T.G.I.F. Woooo!" Selphie yelled from across the office. Squall could hear Zell put in a whoop from his cubicle as well. Irvine let out a chuckle.

Were they thankful that it was Friday or were they cheering for the local chain restaurant? Squall could imagine Selphie letting loose with brightly colored overpriced drinks and Zell eating an entire plate of greasy potato skins before his meal ever arrived. Loud annoying music would nearly rock the mismatched and quirky decor off the dark and dingy walls.

Not a scene he'd want to be a part of, but to each his own.

While Squall preferred to avoid the loud and cluttered local grease trap, he was also thankful that it was Friday. The week had been a whirlwind. He'd been busy, which was normal, but then some extra things had happened.

Weird things.

Most of those weird things could be traced back to Rinoa Heartilly, the new receptionist. She'd only been at Phoenix for a week, but somehow she'd gotten under his skin. She was a bother, an irritation, an itch that he was trying to ignore. But with itches, the more you ignore them, the worse they get. Squall just hoped nobody in the office knew how much time he spent thinking about the receptionist. It wasn't professional, or healthy.

So let's just say that it had been a momentous week for him, for better or worse. More notable things had happened to Squall in this week than in his entire time at Phoenix. First, there was a fire drill, and that took up time, but that wasn't all. He'd had his coat stolen, briefly. He'd had hot coffee spilled all over himself, so he'd had to deal with stained clothes and minor burns. He'd had to take a sexual harassment refresher course, on his own time. It had been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, twists and turns. Some people thought roller coasters were fun and exciting. Other people just found them to be nauseating.

Guess which type of person Squall was.

He was uneasy. He just wanted to do his job and finish this week without any other strange incidents. He wasn't going to congratulate himself on finishing another workweek until he was successfully out of the office. He wasn't going to unwind until he got home safely. His back muscles were tense, and his nerves were on high alert in anticipation and dread of whatever might come next.

So it was Friday afternoon, but it didn't feel like a relaxing Friday afternoon.

Squall's fingers typed away, finishing the day's work. He saved his files and straightened his desk before opening his email. For such a small office, they had a lot of emails sent to the entire staff. He deleted most of them that seemed non-essential to him doing his job. It felt good to clear out his in-box. If he didn't stay on top of it, it could become unwieldy. This was his usual pre-weekend routine.

After several minutes of scanning and deleting emails, Squall allowed himself to peek at the clock on his computer. The little white numbers said it was 4:48. Just a few more minutes and he'd be out of the office until Monday. If he had a favorite time of week, this would be it.

He looked around to make sure that he wouldn't forget anything. He hated the idea of having to come back to work, go to the warehouse entrance and be asked by the foreman to be let inside. He double checked that he had his cell phone, keys, lunch bag, and wallet.

His habits had taken him nearly to the end of the workday, as the clock turned over from 4:51, to 4:52.

Almost there.

He side-eyed his leather jacket that hung on the wall. It was good to have it back. His fingers twitched, waiting to grab it and run out of the building. Actually he'd just walk quickly and with purpose until he got outside. He didn't run and get all emotional about it. He would figuratively 'run' out of there, but he would literally walk out of there. Either way, he was going to leave soon. No reason to stay a minute past 5:00. That was his routine, and he was set in his ways, like an old man.

A yellow blur could be seen running past his cubicle and he cringed.

It was Selphie that hopped past his cubicle, a bright smile of her face. He kept his face towards his computer, not wanting to get into a conversation with her now at the end of the day. Luckily he wasn't her target. She kept walking up to the front of the office.

He could hear her giving Rinoa a light slap on the back and congratulating her on completing her first week with the company.

"Yeah!" Selphie cheered. "You've made it this far. That's a huge milestone. Not many receptionists make it a full week!"

"Huh?" Rinoa mumbled. That sounded worrying to her, was there something wrong with this place? She didn't have a lot of work experience. Maybe there was something toxic about Phoenix. That Seifer guy seemed like trouble. Was it his fault?

"There's a huge turnover rate," Selphie whispered loudly. "Maybe you're going to be the one to beat them all. This will be your destiny. You are the one foretold about in the prophecy," she said dramatically while pointing skywards.

"Excuse me?" Rinoa asked. This was getting weird.

"Nobody's destiny is being a receptionist for our garbage office," Seifer complained, yelling through the office. "Especially not forever."

Rinoa thought Seifer yelled a lot. He was probably one of those people who wouldn't stop scream-talking at the movies.

It seemed everybody could hear every conversation in the office.

Quistis came out of her personal office and leaned against her doorframe. "Seifer, don't upset Rinoa. You're going to hurt office morale," she explained. "And congratulations Miss Heartilly on finishing your first week with us. You're doing a good job," she reassured Rinoa with a small smile. "We hope this has been a pleasant week for you, and you won't let any minor incidents deter your career with Phoenix." Quistis worried internally that whatever Squall had done to Rinoa earlier in the week would make the young woman seek employment elsewhere. She hoped that wasn't the case. There were only so many people on the island, and she felt that they'd already briefly employed most people as their receptionist. They even had to hire this new person who was from all the way out in Galbadia. If she didn't work out, maybe Zell's mom would like a job?

As Quistis wondered about the employability of Ma Dinct, Rinoa wondered why was everybody being so nice to her. Were they being sarcastic? Was she actually doing a bad job? Or were they expecting her to be the worst receptionist ever and were pleasantly surprised.

"Uh, thanks," Rinoa said toward Quistis. She turned and looked at Selphie, who was still standing and smiling at her. That girl was always smiling. Rinoa wondered if something was wrong with her. "It's been a nice week." She didn't know what else to say.

 _Almost 5:00,_ Squall thought, drumming his fingertips on his desk.

And then the clock struck 5:00 pm. Squall clicked grabbed his jacket and started to walk out of the office. He was no longer officially obligated to be there as of right now. He started walking up towards the front desk where Selphie and Rinoa had been chatting. He would have liked to avoid Rinoa, but there wasn't another way out of the building, unless he wanted to go through the warehouse or through an alarmed fire exit.

He would just keep a straight face and keep walking. It would be fine. He turned the corner and the receptionist desk came into view.

It would be fine except that they were blocking his way. Or to be precise Selphie was blocking his way. Selphie's back was turned and she was animatedly talking about her plans for the weekend in the walkway around the front desk. The walkway could only comfortably accommodate one individual at a time, and at that moment Selphie was that individual. Rinoa was at least off to the side, her arm resting on the receptionist desk, her back towards him.

Squall thought of his options. One he could stand there mutely and wait Selphie out while holding his lunch bag and feeling foolish. Two he could try and get Rinoa or Selphie's attention and ask them to move to the side. Neither were appealing to Squall's sense of wanting to leave as quickly as possible without talking to anyone.

Squall instead took option three, he would wait until Selphie's flailing elbows and arms were out of his way and then he would make a quick dash for the exit. Squall started planning evasive maneuvers before he made his move. Then he took his chance. While speed walking he successfully avoided Selphie, but in his haste he nearly bumped into Rinoa. She turned and looked up at him in surprise, her dark eyes catching his blue ones at the last moment. He froze in place.

Rinoa looked alarmed at seeing Squall face to face after yesterday, but she didn't want to cause any more trouble for her coworker. She quickly averted her gaze by ducking her head slightly and stepped to the side to allow him to pass. Unfortunately Squall tried to go around her at the same time. They bumped into each other just like the day before. Each person's movement became a mirror image of the other. Every time he tried to avoid her, she swerved in the same direction. Rinoa's eyebrows knit together in frustration and Squall couldn't believe it. He wasn't almost home free and now this was happening. Again.

Quistis stared in horror. She hoped nothing would occur that would require her to intervene as manager again. She stood by, waiting to see what would happen.

In contrast, Selphie was enjoying the show. She let out a small laugh at her coworkers' predicament. It looked delightfully silly from her perspective. It was extra funny to her because it was stoic looking Squall. If it was just Zell and Rinoa it wouldn't nearly be as funny. Slapstick comedy was much more common with Zell. This was a rare treat.

"It kinda looks like you guys are dancing," Selphie said with a laugh.

Then she got an idea. It was Friday afternoon, she could be extra silly. "Imaginary dance party! I'm gonna join." She started bopping up and down and shaking her hips next to where Squall and Rinoa kept bumping into each other, drawn to each other like magnets. "Boom, boom, pow," she sang in her approximation of dance music.

"Not again!" Rinoa said in frustration, her hair falling over her face.

Selphie stopped dancing and singing. "Again? What do you mean? You guys have been having an office dance party without me? Not fair!" she teased.

Squall started to get hot under the collar. He had to get out of the building. NOW!

"Excuse me," Squall said with a coolness that hid the heat he felt building inside of him. He carefully put his hands on the top of Rinoa's shoulders while finally being able to step around her. He hoped he hadn't overstepped any normal bounds by touching her, but he had to get out of there before Rinoa said anything to Selphie about yesterday.

"Uh yea, no problem," Rinoa said while she looked after him as he exited the building. The door slammed shut behind him.

Why were things always so awkward with him? She was a perfectly nice coworker if you ignored the jacket stealing and crotch burning she'd done earlier in the week. And it was only her first week. She wished he'd give her another chance. She didn't want things to be awkward forever. There weren't that many people in the office that she could just hide from him forever.

"What was that about?" Selphie asked Rinoa while pointing towards the direction Squall had escaped to.

Quistis quickly went back inside her office, not wanting to witness any conversational topics Rinoa might bring up with Selphie. As far as Quistis Trepe, office manager, was concerned, the sexual harassment incident of yesterday was over.

"Uh, it was nothing," Rinoa said, wondering what it was about as well.

Cold air enveloped Squall as he exited the building. The coolness felt wonderful on his hot face. He continued into the parking lot where his black car was waiting for him. He climbed in and wasted no time in starting it up. It revved to life and began to purr. He backed out of his parking space and drove home by the same route he always did.

Yet another workweek was under his belt. He didn't have to think about this place again until 9:00 am on Monday. Just like usual.

Mission accomplished. He finally started to relax.

* * *

Squall sat by himself at home this Friday night, as usual.

The TV flickered before his eyes, illuminating the dark room in erratic flashes and a myriad of colors. He looked down at himself in the TV's strange light, his hands alternately glowing blue and orange. He flexed his fingers and then reached for the drink sitting on the coffee table in front of him. The beads of condensation wet his fingers and he played with the droplets of water, thankful for the distraction during the commercial break. He took a long drink of his beer and then set the glass back down with a small thud. He flicked the water off of his fingertips.

Sitting on the couch at home on a Friday night was usually a relaxing activity, but today it seemed overly quiet and empty. The silence in his apartment used to be a refuge from the irritating sounds of the workplace, but he was surprised to find that he actually missed the sounds of people. It felt strange. He wasn't the sort of person who minded being alone. He could enjoy himself, by himself. He didn't need people. Did he?

While he sat on his couch watching his TV with the sound off, he started taking mental stock of his life.

 _Squall Leonhart._

 _Age: twenty something._

 _Family: don't want to think about it._

 _Friends: none._

 _Pets: none._

 _Houseplants: none._

 _Don't,_ he told himself. _You're fine. Don't think. Don't._

His brain was his own worst enemy. His accuser. Couldn't he just enjoy a quiet evening at home by himself? One of many quiet evenings by himself, from here until eternity.

He sighed. His chest heaved with the effort.

He didn't want to think about his life because it was sad. He had co-workers, work acquaintances, but he didn't have friends. His family situation was complicated and he tried to not think of it when he didn't have to.

He was always alone, that wasn't new, but it had never felt so lonely. What had changed?

He continued watching TV, hoping it would kill his internal dialogue and dull his mind.

Another commercial flitted across the screen soundlessly. A blonde woman was gleefully taking a shower, happy to become squeaky clean amongst a rich white lather of bar soap. The whiteness of the soap suds was only matched by the sparkling white of her over bleached teeth. As her wet and clean hair clung to the nape of her slender neck, Squall's mind started to wander. His memory brought up snatches of long dark hair and soft smiles. A soothing voice that was full of life. His heart warmed instinctively. An animated soap bar danced amongst bubbles on the screen and winked at him.

Wait, what was he thinking?

Squall rubbed his hand along his jaw, feeling the beginnings of stubble. He suddenly noticed that he had been wondering what Rinoa, the new girl, was doing right now. She was probably doing something fun and exciting, nothing mundane like watching TV alone in a darkened apartment like an antisocial vampire whose bones were half dust.

He took his hand away from his face and clenched his fist. He felt stupid for his small reverie. He uttered a soft snort of disgust.

And wondering about Rinoa wasn't the worst part. Did he just get mildly turned-on by a commercial with an animated talking soap bar?

What was his problem? He wasn't some pubescent boy who had just discovered that girls existed. He knew they existed, they were out there, somewhere. He'd _seen_ them.

Interacting with them was another story, but he'd definitely _seen_ them.

And Squall Leonhart was not a boy, he was a man in his 20s. He had a college degree, a job, a car, and a place to live. Those were all things that had been on his life's checklist. Accomplishments, check. Those were objective measures of success. Why didn't he feel successful?

He rubbed his hand over his forehead. His head hurt. His heart ached. He didn't know how to fix the hole inside of him. He was filled with sadness and longing.

Longing for what?

He grabbed the remote control from where it sat on the couch cushion next to him. He unmuted the TV, trying to lose himself in whatever garbage was on TV that night. The sound, while not loud, jarred him from his thoughts, breaking the relative silence.

He couldn't believe that he was actually looking forward to going back to work on Monday.

He grabbed his beer in irritation and downed it in several gulps.

* * *

Rinoa leaned her forehead against the cool windowpane in her apartment. She watched the streetlights glow outside in the growing darkness. She switched her phone to her other hand and pressed it to her ear.

"Daddy, I'm fine. Everything is great," Rinoa said. It was taking longer to reassure him than usual. Her hand was getting tired from holding up the phone.

Her father loved her, but he was used to being in control of situations, and he wasn't happy when Rinoa 'ran away' from home. Rinoa had informed him that she was an adult woman, not a teen runaway. She'd taken a job and was being responsible. She just wanted to try living on her own, really on her own.

He hadn't taken it well. They'd fought, but in the end Rinoa moved far away from Deling City and the continent of Galbadia to sunny little Balamb.

He assured her that she'd always be his baby girl, and it was his job to worry about her. He told her that she'd feel the same way when she had her own wayward daughter. She scoffed at the thought. If she ever decided to be a mother, she'd be a cool mom. Nothing like all the other moms, who were wracked with worry. Her father had laughed at that.

Even though they didn't always see eye to eye with each other, they did love one another, in their own ways. Her father had given her a phone and Rinoa had agreed to check in with him from time to time. He always said that it was a dangerous world out there. Rinoa smiled at her father's worries. It was annoying, but also nice that he cared about her so much.

"Yes, Daddy," she agreed with whatever he'd been saying. Yes, she was eating and drinking enough. Yes, she wasn't losing weight. Yes, she was locking her doors at night. Yes, she wasn't taking candy from strangers in windowless white vans. Okay, he didn't say anything about that last one, but it felt like that was where the conversation was headed.

"Is your dog protecting you?" her father asked.

"Protecting me from what?" Rinoa asked.

"Maybe you need a bodyguard," Caraway mused to himself.

"Balamb is perfectly safe. Don't worry." Rinoa didn't know if she'd been to a safer area before. A bodyguard seemed to be overkill, overkill General Caraway style.

"Don't be fooled by appearances Rinoa. Just because a place looks safe, doesn't mean it is. I looked at this week's local police report and I saw that there was a recent wave of shoplifting and vandalism."

"You're checking local police reports?" Rinoa asked with exasperation. He'd always find something wrong if he looked hard enough. "Those sounds like pretty minor crimes," Rinoa said. "Probably just some bored local kids." She started pacing around her apartment.

"Don't let your guard down," he said. "Who knows what bad types of people are out there?" Actually he knew what types of bad people were out there in the world, but he'd tried to hide the grittiness of reality from his daughter. She was trusting and naive and he worried about her. If trouble could be found, she'd find it, whether she meant to or not. That dog better be doing its job.

Rinoa kept pacing. She felt that this fatherly call had gone on long enough. Although it was a little tense, they weren't fighting. She figured she should end the call before it turned into a daddy-daughter argument. The key to getting along with her father was keeping interactions with him to a minimum before their personalities could clash in any significant way.

"I'll check in with you later, okay? Bye bye," Rinoa said sweetly before ending the call with her father. It was sweet that he worried about her so much. At least it was sweet when she wasn't living under his roof. Now that there was some distance between them, it was easier to appreciate his concerns. They didn't feel so suffocating and neverending. It had gotten a lot easier to value him when he was on another continent. Maybe this move would help improve their relationship.

She put her phone down and stretched her arms behind her back. Her dog sat at her feet and she reached down to give her a few good head scratches.

"Good girl," she said.

Rinoa turned around and surveyed her apartment. Now that the sun had gone down during her call, it was getting too dark to see clearly in her apartment. She flicked on all the lights. The harsh overhead bulb illuminated her basic furnishings. A couch, a coffee table, some boxes.

This place definitely needed some personal touches. She reached into the box and pulled out a squeaky dog toy. She threw it behind her head. Her dog, Angelo, perked up and ran after it. The dog was soon rolling on her back and chewing on the toy.

"Yea, Angelo!" she said encouragingly to the dog. "Happy now?" she asked. "Me too!"

Rinoa was happy. She'd just finished her first week of work. This was her first weekend and she was so excited. She wanted to celebrate. She grabbed her music player and decided on an upbeat playlist. Soon music filled her small apartment.

She started dancing around with Angelo chasing her heels. She laughed. Her antics must look silly if anybody were to see them, but she didn't care. It didn't matter that she couldn't dance well, or that she was dancing with a dog. She was having fun and living her life. She was happy. Her heart was full. Her new job wasn't much, but it was hers, at least for now. She decided that she was going to make the most of it.

She was going to make her own decisions, live her own life, choose her own friends.

At least she would choose her own friends as the opportunity arrived. She didn't want to be stuck dancing alone with a dog every weekend.

She could only hope.

She might just make it after all.

* * *

Author's notes: I hope you guys liked this chapter okay. I was having a lot of trouble with it. And I don't know about everybody else, but my dad is always asking how I'm doing even though I'm an adult. That often includes if I'm eating well. (Please read and review.)


	8. Chapter 8: Blue Monday

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

Squall hated Mondays.

Monday was the worst day of the week according to him. Actually if you asked anybody on the street they would agree. Mondays were the worst. It was a simple fact of life for anybody who worked a 9-5 job. Weekends. Good. Weekdays. Bad.

The only other time of the week that was nearly as bad was Sunday night, and that was only because of the mere anticipation of Monday was enough to cause dread. As the Sunday sun set, you knew your weekend time was numbered. It would only be a matter of hours before you were stuck at your ugly desk in your stupid and pointless job, having to make small talk with co-workers who tolerated your presence only because they were being paid.

It was an awful but inevitable part of life, Monday's dawn could not be stopped.

So this particular Monday morning, Squall sat at his desk and threw himself into his work, like always. It was his routine. He tried to block out the fact that he was far away from the safety and solitude of the weekend. The glorious weekend when he didn't have to interact with people, at least not if he didn't want to. And he never wanted to. That's why Mondays were the hardest for him. At least that's what he would have thought a few weeks ago, but something was different now.

This Monday was different.

Maybe weekends weren't as glorious as he'd previously thought. Most weekends were a wonderful time to recharge his batteries. He spent his time as he pleased. He watched what he wanted and ate what he wanted, all in the blissful silence of solitude. But this weekend he'd tossed and turned and wallowed in his thoughts. He didn't know exactly why he felt worse. He'd spent his weekend like he always had before.

It was terrible.

Watching TV by himself didn't seem so fun. Eating by himself was boring and bland. Exercising felt pointless and repetitive. Scrubbing countertops and ironing shirts didn't fill him with a feeling of accomplishment. Every time he tried to read, his mind wandered and his eyes kept looking over the same sentence without his mind comprehending it.

Squall Leonhart was lost and broken. His whole sense of self had been thrown off. What used to work, didn't anymore. It was disorienting to him.

Had Squall's weekends always been bad, and he just didn't notice? Were his tastes changing? What used to please him now felt like a self-imposed cage. He wanted to break out of it, but he didn't know how.

If Squall didn't have this boring job, he'd have next to no human contact at all. He suddenly came to the realization that his self-imposed isolation wasn't a good thing. He was introverted, but he didn't have to completely separate himself from humanity. He didn't have to confine himself by his limited view of himself and always be solitary.

Solitary confinement.

Wasn't that the worst punishment possible? Reserved only for the worst offenders who got themselves thrown into a Galbadian desert prison? Why would he impose that on himself? He wondered. Family strain, past hurts, and his general natural disposition had contributed to it, he supposed. Maybe he'd dug himself into this hole, but it wasn't impossible to climb out of it.

He wasn't sure how to do that, but the idea was there, tickling at the back of his brain. What seemed impossible a few weeks ago didn't seem that way anymore.

It was Monday, the dawn of a new day, a new week. He could be a new Squall Leonhart. He already was changing enough that he felt relieved to be at work and be out amongst people.

Strange.

From an outside perspective he didn't look any different. He was still a reliable employee who showed up on time and did his job, but his attitude was different. He was becoming interested in others, and he no longer viewed his coworkers as annoyances to be avoided. Instead of tuning everybody out, he was trying to listen in on what was happening in the office around him.

Although maybe he was more interested in one particular coworker than the others. A certain fresh faced new receptionist with dark eyes and a sometimes crooked smile. That smile could be described as playful or mischievous, and it had certainly gotten his attention.

It was kinda hard to ignore a person who'd dumped hot coffee on his crotch in the past week.

He didn't hold it against her. It wasn't her fault. Or maybe it was. It didn't matter. His crotch was okay now, not that anybody asked.

He glanced briefly at the ceiling tiles and wondered what she'd do to him this week.

Were her earlier eccentricities a one-time thing due to first week jitters? He hoped not. He didn't want to go back to being bored. Maybe she was an exciting person all the time and people who hung out with her were able to avoid dull and dreary lives that were full of mundane boredom. Maybe she was a catalyst. A livewire. A spark.

He wanted to capture that spark and keep it with him.

Or maybe he was just imagining the whole thing. She was just an ordinary girl with an ordinary job. Maybe Squall was just overreacting to having a somewhat exciting week. Maybe it had only seemed exciting because his normal life was so impossibly boring.

Maybe it wasn't her, it was him.

That phrase was usually reserved for somebody trying to end a relationship, not start one, but Squall wasn't an expert on these things.

There was only one way to find out about his feeling though. He could get to know her better and see if there was anything more to her. He wanted to know.

Squall kept typing while all these thoughts swirled in his head, unknown to anyone around him.

Men were often stereotyped as not being able to multitask, but maybe they just weren't motivated enough to split their attention. He would have loved to just focus completely on Rinoa, but he was being paid to work. So that was what he was doing. Working. He continued to type on his computer, but he strained his ears to hear anything coming from Rinoa's section of the office.

He would be ashamed to admit that he was spying on her, but he wanted to know more about her, and he wasn't going to go up and talk to her himself. That would be out of character and would get a curious response from Quistis at best and a crude response from Seifer at worst. He wanted to avoid that sort of attention. He couldn't just do that.

Maybe if he'd cultivated a different persona, he could just walk up there to say 'hello,' but that wasn't his reality. So right now his only other option was eavesdropping. It allowed him to learn more about her, but also allowed him to hide. His cubicle gave him adequate privacy and unlimited eavesdropping potential. His ears were always trained on picking up any information about her.

Too bad it had been a relatively quiet Monday morning. Most of the time everyone would recount the activities or obligations of the weekend, and Squall would usually ignore it as much as he could. Irvine would talk about some hot women he met, although Squall felt that these 'hot women' were most likely imaginary. Then Seifer would talk about how he'd almost struck it rich, and Squall would heavily emphasize the 'almost' part in his mind. Zell would talk about doing errands for his mom or his workout routine. Selphie would chatter to everyone within earshot about nothing. And then Quistis would smile and laugh at everybody else, apparently finding people watching to be amusing, for some reason that didn't make sense to Squall.

None of that was happening this morning, and that was odd. Squall had barely even heard a peep out of Seifer. Was everybody recovering from a wild weekend, or was everybody just as boring and bored as himself? He didn't know because he didn't know any of these people that well.

He side-eyed Seifer's cubicle and actually saw him sitting upright in his office chair. He was looking straight at his computer with his eyebrows furrowed while typing. Even Seifer was all business this morning. Maybe he should just take inspiration from his usually antagonistic cubicle neighbor and focus on his work as well. He wasn't being paid to wish that somebody would start a decently loud and intrusive conversation with Rinoa this morning.

He took a deep breath and started sorting through the stack of papers in his inbox tray. Now this is what he got paid to do. Mindless, repetitive work that required double checking and tallying numbers. Making sure all the accounts were correct. Not exactly mentally stimulating or social, but it paid his bills.

His fingers flipped through the stack of papers, while sorting and arranging them. Over the rustling of papers he heard the soft tread of boots on the thin office carpet. The footsteps sounded small, but rapid. Could it be Selphie tiptoeing up to the receptionist desk? His hands held steady, focusing his attention.

Squall bit his lip. He had been waiting for this. When the office got this quiet, the silence would inevitably be broken by somebody. The office had been experiencing a lull in customer service calls, so it seemed that Selphie was looking for some social interaction to enliven her day.

Good. Good job Selphie.

Squall was lucky that he wasn't the only person in the office with an interest in Rinoa. He could tell that Selphie had been genuinely enthused to have another receptionist in their midst. It seemed that she was always looking for a new best friend. Squall didn't know if she was just naturally social or just attention starved for girlish companionship, but he'd take what he'd get. Right now, all he had to do was listen whenever Selphie was eager to chat.

She finished tiptoeing up to the desk and jumped with a loud clomp in front of Rinoa's desk.

"Hiya," Selphie said loudly enough for everybody to hear. "Did you have a nice weekend? How's Balamb been treating you?" He could hear the cheerful energy radiating from her voice. She wouldn't be deterred until she knew Rinoa better. Nobody could stop Selphie. She'd bulldoze right through a person.

He never thought he'd be thankful for Selphie's incessant need for socializing.

Squall held his breath, waiting to hear about what Rinoa did over the weekend. What were her hobbies? What did she like to do? Where did she like to hang out? How did she spend her time? Who did she spend her time with? He wanted to know every last specific detail.

His eyes stared blankly at the blinking cursor on his screen awaiting her response, and his mind got ready to record her responses.

"Balamb's been great," Rinoa said. "The weather here is so much more temperate than Deling City."

"Really?" Selphie asked. "That's neat." There was a long and uncomfortable pause. Squall could just imagine Selphie hanging over Rinoa's receptionist desk trying to come up with something else to say. Something that would get Rinoa to come out of her shell so she'd be Selphie's new best friend.

Squall turned all of his attention to his hearing and willed for Selphie to succeed. The office was so quiet he could hear his own breathing. Why wasn't anybody talking?

"I like your shirt," Selphie said finally. "Is blue one of your favorite colors?"

He heard Rinoa's beaten up office chair creak noisily as she shifted her weight.

"Yeah," Rinoa said blandly.

 _Favorite colors?_ Squall lamented inwardly. Wasn't Selphie a better conversationalist than that? At least he thought she was. He usually tuned office chatter out. She seemed like she'd be able to get a good girls' conversation going. She obviously wanted to make a new girlfriend. Squall had never considered she might not be good in that department.

He sighed and stopped focusing on their conversation. He wasn't going to learn anything about Rinoa if all they talked about was the weather, and hearing them give compliments on each other's outfits wasn't exactly informative either. Squall didn't feel that he was learning much of anything during this interaction, other than Rinoa was polite enough to put up with it. He started losing hope that he'd get to know Rinoa better during this particular instance. Maybe eavesdropping wasn't the best idea he had after all.

As they chatted about clothes and colors he felt embarrassed and decided to stop listening in on their mundane conversation altogether. He opened up a file and began checking to see if the accounts received tallied up correctly.

Unbeknownst to Squall, across the office, Rinoa pulled out a photo to show Selphie while they chatted about nothing in particular.

"That photo is super adorable of you two!" Selphie exclaimed. "I'm so jealous." She sounded much more animated than she had a few minutes before.

At the term 'jealous,' Squall's ears perked up and he stopped working. Those accounts could wait to be tallied. He wanted to know what they were talking about. His hands hovered over his keyboard, not even wanting to make sound with his typing.

"Yea, we've been inseparable for years," Rinoa explained with a big smile.

Were they talking about a boyfriend? His heart jumped in his chest.

He felt crushed. He should have figured a nice person like Rinoa would already have a boyfriend. She was sweet and attractive. Who wouldn't like her? But hearing it confirmed hurt nonetheless. He didn't know he'd been holding out hope that she was single. And it sounded like a long term relationship too. They were probably committed to each other.

"How sweet!" Selphie said, her voice dripping with a syrupy tone that was usually reserved for cute animals and babies.

Squall cringed. Even Selphie thought this guy was a great catch. He didn't know what Selphie was into, but if both Rinoa and Selphie thought this guy was attractive, he probably was. Lucky jerk. Lucky jerk who wasn't destined to die alone, unlike Squall.

Squall pushed back from his desk and tried to straighten out his slumped spine. He had work to do. He had a pointless one-sided office crush for a week, and now it was time to give it up. Maybe it was for the best. It had only been one week of emotional ups and downs. Late bloomer that he was, he could now say he'd had a crush. That was interesting. The end. He could concentrate on his work now. Work was important.

He sighed.

This was behind him now.

Yea.

It was a small anomaly in his straight-laced and boring life. Time to commandeer his life, and get it back on track starting now.

He tapped his fingers on his desk while taking a deep breath. He ran his hands through his hair and roughed up the shorter strands at the back.

Time to start thinking about work again. He grabbed a pen off his desk and rolled it between his fingertips.

He should be thinking about work.

But seriously, somebody like Rinoa deserved to be in a loving relationship with a kind and caring person. And that was okay. She probably was treated like a princess. That would be good. He tried to put a selfless spin on this bad news. He pretended that he just wanted her to be happy, instead of him just wanting her.

Rinoa's boyfriend was probably a good guy. Rinoa deserved a good guy. Yea.

He started typing again, slightly breathless, but otherwise okay. His heart rate steadied, albeit at a faster pace than normal.

"I can't imagine what my life would have been like without Angelo," Rinoa said to Selphie.

Squall sat up straight and stopped typing. He felt like he'd been gut punched.

 _Angelo?_ Squall thought. _What kind of name is Angelo?_

Something about that name grated on his nerves. Why couldn't her boyfriend have a normal, non-sexy name like Wimbly or Nida?

Squall immediately started imagining what type of person would be named Angelo. His mind conjured up an image of a large and very muscular man with longish dark hair and brown eyes. He probably hung out at the gym all the time working on his muscle tone. Not only that, but he would be really annoying about it too. Even more annoying than Seifer bragging about how he ran marathons. A real macho type muscle head. And a guy like that wouldn't shave every day either. Some stubble, maybe some facial hair, but not too much. Tattoos? He was probably covered in them. Men's jewelry? Yea. He bet he was the type to walk around shirtless for no reason at all too.

Squall hated him with a passion already. His nostrils flared and his made a fist.

Squall couldn't believe THAT was the sort of person Rinoa was in an inseparable long term relationship with. Rinoa was a precious and delicate flower! That rough jerk didn't deserve her!

 _Angelo,_ he growled internally.

Now he wanted to win her over more than ever.

"Did you have lotsa fun with Angelo this weekend?" Selphie asked, Squall could hear the smile in Selphie's voice. Her question was full of playful mirth. It sounded like she was affected by what she saw. He could hear her affections were gushing by the way she spoke.

Squall's ears strained to hear Rinoa's answer.

"I know it sounds silly," Rinoa started to say, "but I kinda just danced around with Angelo this weekend and settled in to my new apartment. Nothing too exciting."

Settling into an apartment together?

The idea of Rinoa and Angelo settling into her apartment together utterly crushed him. His heart beat faster as if a large predator was nearby. He imagined a sweet domestic scene between them. They would be comfortable enough with each other that they could just relax together all weekend. Rinoa would be in form fitting yet comfortable loungewear, Angelo would be shirtless because he always had to show off his stupid physique. They probably were picking out curtains online and making life plans while dancing around and listening to music.

Squall felt hopeless. He shuffled his feet under his office desk.

But suddenly Squall realized she'd said one single word that revived hope in his heart. She'd said 'my' apartment. She didn't describe the apartment as 'theirs.' That was a big difference. Maybe the relationship wasn't as serious as he'd feared. Maybe Angelo wasn't her live-in boyfriend who'd moved out from Galbadia to be with her. Maybe he was just helping her settle in. It would be a long distance relationship from now on.

Long distance relationships were doomed. Squall wasn't a relationship expert, but he'd heard that countless times before. Out of sight, out of mind.

Squall smiled to himself and gripped the edge of his desk, while having mixed emotions He knew it wasn't good to be happy at somebody else's potential misfortune, but he was human after all. And was breaking up with a big muscular tattooed jerk like Angelo really a misfortune?

"Well, if you didn't do much this weekend, how about we all go out for lunch today? Like a big office lunch party to make up for your quiet weekend?" Selphie suggested. She became quiet as she pondered her sudden idea.

Irvine got up from his desk and walked slowly up to where Selphie and Rinoa were talking. "That sounds like a good idea to me. I'm getting mighty tired of brown baggin' it all the time."

Selphie turned to look at Irvine, her shoulders hunched up in surprise at him. She was pleased that he sounded positive towards her idea, but she was somewhat conflicted. For one thing, she wasn't sure if "brown baggin' it" was some sort of innuendo that she, in her naivety, had never heard of. She knew people packed lunches in brown paper bags, so that made sense, but it just sounded kinda dirty when Irvine said it. He just had that way about him.

She decided to ignore any misgivings about Irvine's intentions or his possible innuendos. She just wanted to go out to lunch.

Selphie forced out a tiny smile at him. Irvine raised an eyebrow at her and looked down into her smiling face. She let herself get excited again, and she started to bounce lightly on her heels.

"How about we go to..." Irvine started to suggest.

"Hey, I want to pick the lunch place this time," Selphie said while interrupting Irvine with her hands up in the air. "There's this really super fun place called 'Chew Chew Train Cafe.' They have things like hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled cheese sandwiches in little red plastic baskets and..."

"Uh..." Irvine said while frowning. He didn't know what he had in mind, but it wasn't that.

"Basic. Too basic for me," Seifer said loudly. He left his cubicle to talk with Irvine and Selphie face to face. "I have a much more developed palate than you. I need something better than that. Gonna have to do better. Another option. Another," he demanded impatiently while jabbing his index finger in her direction.

"You didn't let me finish!" Selphie said, clearly annoyed, but loving the attention nonetheless. She would have been frightened to have Seifer looming over her, but Irvine was next to her, so she felt marginally safer. She continued to try to skew opinion in favor of her choice, and her voice went up a notch. "Your meal comes out to you on a little toy train set." She started mimicking with her hands the way a toy train could putter around a track. "There are tracks all over the restaurant and..."

Seifer let out a laugh, interrupting Selphie yet again. "Customer Service Girl, this place sounds like it's for _children_ ," Seifer said with heavy emphasis on the word, children. "You understand that don't you?" He sighed. "I want to go someplace with fine dining options served by a well dressed and beautiful woman."

 _Hooters isn't classified as 'fine dining' Almasy,_ Squall thought to himself while staying quietly in his cubicle.

Selphie stomped her foot down. She didn't like being mocked by Seifer, again. "You might see some mega-babes at the Chew Chew Train Cafe," Selphie defended. She thought that probably wasn't true, but maybe it wasn't entirely untrue.

"I think you misspoke," Seifer said while running his hand over his slicked back blond hair. He adjusted his tie. "Not babes, but babies. Actual babies in dirty diapers. Dirty diapers Selphie!"

"Hey man, the place isn't that bad," Zell piped up, walking up to Rinoa's receptionist desk. He leaned his elbows heavily on the desk, crowding around the poor girl.

Squall was listening in to everybody's conversation. This is what he'd been wanting, what he'd been waiting for this boring Monday morning. He wanted people to be social so he could learn more about Rinoa, and now it was practically an office party right up by her desk.

Squall was starting to feel left out. Everybody in the office was hanging out with Rinoa, except him. And that's where he wanted to be. Was there a way he could include himself without seeming out of character? He leaned around the edge of his cubicle and peeked towards the front of the office to see what was happening.

Seifer's head swung around to look at Zell in disbelief. He slapped his hand on her desk hard and the sound thundered through the office. "You've been to this children's restaurant too?"

They were all arguing, and during the commotion Squall figured he could just slip up there. Maybe nobody would notice and he wouldn't seem out of place.

"Hey, good food is good food," Zell said. "The hot dogs are really good and..."

Although maybe they would notice Squall trying to be social and they'd comment about it. Maybe he shouldn't go up there.

Seifer threw his hands up into the air. He couldn't believe his co-workers. They were such children. Were there no adults here? Nobody here was his equal, except maybe Quistis, the office manager. And he would grudgingly accept that Squall was capable of having his moments. At least he would if he had any personality. But the guy was an adult at least.

But now was a pretty good time for Squall to slip up there. He couldn't think of a better time. Maybe he could even go to lunch with everybody. He kept mulling his thoughts over in his head.

"Uh yeah, maybe I don't want to go out to lunch with you guys," Seifer said. "Maybe I'll start eating a brown bag lunch in my car like Squall. Maybe he has the right idea. Just keep the windows rolled up and shut everybody out."

Squall heard his name, but didn't respond.

"Selphie and Zell's tastes are garbage, obviously. I mean, look at both of their hairstyles. I don't think I'd take any recommendations from them, style or food-wise," Seifer said.

Rinoa had been quiet through Selphie's lunch planning, content to let the local Balamb inhabitants steer her towards an acceptable restaurant choice. She was starting to feel trapped as everybody congregated around where she was seated. It was alright before people started arguing, but now it was too much. And she was becoming angry at how incredibly rude Seifer was being to his coworkers. For such a handsome man, she thought he could afford to be more gracious to others. She'd had just about enough.

"You know what?" Rinoa asked while pushing back from her receptionist desk and standing suddenly. A pen went flying from her sudden movement. "I think that train place sounds pretty great. I think I'd like to go there with Selphie and Zell!"

She just hated it when somebody was bullying other people! It made her crazy.

Rinoa walked up to Selphie and Zell and grabbed them by the arms. She turned and started marching out the front door without another word in Seifer's direction.

"Bye!" she yelled with an impassioned slam of the office door.

And that was that.

Actually it wasn't. After her dramatic exit, she had to run back inside to grab her coat. It was still fairly cold outside, but she ignored Seifer's stares and then quickly left again. She didn't always think her plans through.

And then once Selphie, Zell, and Rinoa had their warm coats, they were off to an early lunch.

* * *

Author's notes: Okay, I based Squall's idea of Angelo on Gladio from FFXV. Haha, it's like when Squall imagined Griever the ultimate GF, except now it's Angelo, the ultimate imaginary boyfriend. Squall wants to defeat him!


	9. Chapter 9: Chew Chew Train Cafe

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

Chapter 9: Chew Chew Train Cafe

Squall's shoulders hitched slightly as the office door slammed shut again. He sat at his desk stunned and motionless. Within a short period of time Rinoa had stormed out of the office not once, but twice. And he'd still done absolutely nothing.

What was wrong with his reflexes?

He'd been mentally prepared to put himself out there and approach his coworkers. Maybe. But now they were definitely gone. They'd left for lunch without him. He didn't even have the chance to go up there and talk.

 _Bad timing. I was too slow to react_ , he thought to himself, trying to break down what had gone wrong so he could correct it for next time. Now that his opportunity had come and gone, he sat there trying to envision ways he could have joined them or things he might have said. There had to be a solution if he thought hard enough. And if he had a time machine.

After a few moments he realized his mind was mostly blank. Apparently more time wouldn't have been a help.

 _Maybe if I'd..._ he started to think. But wait, he wouldn't have done anything. He was being too passive. As much as he'd like Rinoa to come up and jump into his lap and start a conversation, that was never in a million years going to happen.

In his defense, he didn't think they'd leave so suddenly. For one thing, it wasn't lunch time yet. But maybe Rinoa hadn't noticed that when she dragged Selphie and Zell out the door. She'd seemed surprisingly worked up by Seifer. It was kinda funny how she could just change her demeanor so suddenly. Sometimes she was quiet and unsure, sometimes forward and playful, and other times she just exploded in an impassioned and inappropriate outburst. You never knew what you were getting with Rinoa. It was kinda cute. Kinda exciting.

Squall brushed his fingers over his keyboard and smiled. Actually he thought it was kinda hot for some reason. He could watch Rinoa yell at Seifer all day. And he just might in this office.

Squall started envisioning that when Rinoa's desk phone started ringing shrilly, interrupting his quiet contemplation of her weird brand of hotness. It rang and rang because nobody was there to stop it. In her haste Rinoa hadn't taken care of her office duties. The phone system hadn't been set to its automated message service.

Squall reflected on her carelessness. Although, was careless really the right word? She was trying to be caring towards Selphie and Zell. So she wasn't careless, at least not towards people, but she wasn't particularly caring about her receptionist duties. Admittedly that wasn't ideal in a receptionist, but maybe it just meant she was a better at being a person than she was at being an office worker.

The shrill ringing of the phone continued unabated. The sound grated on Squall's ears. He waited for several more rings until it mercifully stopped. Finally.

Squall left his cubicle and strode up to Rinoa's desk. No overthinking, just doing.

It was funny how walking up to Rinoa's desk was so easy now that nobody was in the office. Seifer had gone to the break room and who knew where Irvine had disappeared to? Why couldn't he have done this before?

He quickly took Rinoa's phone off the hook and punched in the code to make it forward to the voicemail. He didn't want the phone intermittently ringing off the hook for the next hour. It wouldn't reflect well on the company and it would be a disservice to Phoenix's customers. They were a small company, but they shouldn't be unprofessional.

Plus, he didn't want Rinoa to get in trouble with Quistis. He didn't mind picking up her slack here or there.

It was funny that Rinoa had been in such a rush that she hadn't been thinking of her job at all. She didn't have many duties, but keeping the receptionist desk covered was the main one. How'd she forget? He remembered the sound of hot anger in her voice as she spoke up to Seifer. She'd gotten very riled up by his mocking of Selphie and Zell. She wasn't used to Seifer like Squall was. He'd been desensitized to his rudeness. Now Squall just took it in stride, like it was just an inevitable part of life.

Maybe he was doing it wrong. She seemed to think it was worthwhile to defend her coworkers, even though she didn't know them very well. Squall had known them for years, why hadn't he come to their defense?

He turned back to his cubicle, and looked around at its emptiness. It was so quiet and so gray. So empty and devoid of life. Nobody was even in the front office right now.

In a burst of thoughtless impulsiveness, he reached out and grabbed his coat. He was headed to the front door before he realized that he was going to go out and join them for lunch. Why not? Selphie didn't say he couldn't come. She'd said they could _all_ go out for lunch today. He would be included in that, right?

Squall was feeling emboldened by his desire to learn more about Angelo. Maybe Selphie and Rinoa would keep talking about this strange 'Angelo' jerk over lunch.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, he figured.

His legs kept him moving out the door before his mind had a chance to stop him.

* * *

Selphie spun on the shiny chrome and red vinyl barstool at the lunch counter and let out a small whoop of joy. She was so happy that her coworkers had come with her to her special happy lunch place. Little toy trains filled with baskets of food puttered around the restaurant while train themed children's music played over the loudspeakers.

"I hear a train in the distance! Choo! Choo! Train, Train, take me away! To the future we will go!" the loudspeaker sang.

Selphie clapped her hands together with the beat and sang under her breath. A small child at the other side of the restaurant started clapping her hands together in imitation of her and smiled. Selphie nodded her head at the little girl in approval. They shared a moment of train filled happiness. She knew what this restaurant was all about. Fun!

While Selphie spun on her seat, Rinoa sat down next to her. She was much less enthusiastic about this place than Selphie, but she could see its charms. It had a bright and entertaining atmosphere and it smelled like hot and greasy fries. This was exactly the sort of fun restaurant that would appeal to children, and one that her father would have never taken her to when she was little. She smiled as a toy train went past her with a tiny teddy bear riding on the caboose. Rinoa had been forced to fit into the adult world when she was little because her father wouldn't have ever lowered himself to the level of a child. As a result, Rinoa had to "acquire a taste" for a lot of foods that were considered delicacies, no matter how much she hated them.

Another train went past. A steaming plate of fries covered in cheese wafted past her nose. She started salivating like a wild animal. She grabbed at a menu.

It was nice to be able to eat a plentiful plate of hot and greasy comfort food amongst people of her own general age group. Artfully arranged plates of minimalistic gastronomic delicacies were nowhere to be found here. Rinoa looked down at the laminated menu that was covered in sticky fingerprints and started looking it over. She was trying to decide on something to try when she looked over at Zell. His eyebrows were tightly furrowed as he studied his menu with intense concentration. He didn't appear to be entertained by the restaurants unusual decor. Rinoa could tell that he was at this restaurant for the food alone. He hummed under his breath as his eyes darted rapidly around his menu.

"Should I get fries or cheese fries on the side?" Zell said out loud.

Rinoa couldn't remember if she'd ever had cheese fries. They sounded pretty heavy, but if Zell got some, maybe he'd let her try a few.

"Why not both?" Selphie asked while stopping spinning.

Zell raised his eyebrows at her suggestions. The thought hadn't even occurred to him that he could have both.

"I don't think I should," Zell started to say.

"Your mom isn't here to stop you," Selphie said. Zell bristled at her statement. He was touchy when people mentioned his mom. He was a bit of a momma's boy, and that was okay because he loved his ma, but he just wished people wouldn't mention it all the time. Although maybe he did talk about his ma at the office more than most people would.

"Come on Zell, treat yourself. It's a Monday," Selphie said, continuing to spin slightly on her stool.

Selphie could make anything into a special occasion, even a Monday. She was the sort of person who could sabotage healthy eating resolutions, like a little devil perched on a dieter's shoulder. Luckily Zell wasn't dieting and had a high metabolism due to his casual interest in practicing martial arts and weightlifting.

Zell thought about the cheese fries. He hadn't had cheese fries in forever. It was a gluttonous treat, even he hadn't indulged in that often. Maybe he'd let Selphie talk him into it. It wasn't like he 100% didn't want to have them.

"Could we get some fries AND cheese fries over here for my friend?" Selphie called across the restaurant to a random waiter wearing a train conductor hat, making the decision for him. She leaned over and gave Zell's bicep a squeeze. Zell smiled at the contact, equally annoyed and flattered.

Selphie could prod a person into doing all sorts of things they wouldn't normally do. Once as a dare, she even got Zell to jump off a cliff. Actually it was more of a large rock on the beach, but it was pretty big.

"Yum yum, we're having fun!" she sang under her breath. Zell started to smile. He actually was starting to have fun. The smell of hot dogs was lifting his mood, and he also was sorta liking the attention from Selphie. She wasn't his type, but attention was attention. And hot fatty fries were on their way.

"I've had so many of these hot dogs, and they're all good," Zell said as he leaned over towards Selphie as if he was sharing a big secret. "Maybe I'll try something different today. It is a Monday after all." Her celebratory attitude was starting to rub off on him. He looked over the menu some more. "Hey, I've never tried The Doom Train, maybe I'll try that."

Selphie stopped smiling and swiveling on her bar stool. Her face sobered as she peered over at him. "Zell, The Doom Train, is not to be taken lightly. That's a whole foot long hot dog topped in extra spicy chili." Her voice had gotten much lower pitched than he'd ever heard it. Unbeknownst to him, this was her natural voice, she usually just spoke in a higher pitched tone. It fit her persona as energetic pixie.

"Oh yeah Chili dog!" Zell cheered while raising his fist in the air.

"Spicy!" Selphie warned while waving her hands in front of her face. "Really spicy!" She shook her head from side to side. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

"Do you not like spicy foods Selphie?" Rinoa asked. She doubted a children's restaurant would feature anything truly fiery. Maybe Selphie was overreacting. She seemed to exaggerate things. And Rinoa also had a feeling she was more into sweets than heat.

Selphie turned towards Rinoa. "I like them okay," she answered, "but this is seriously spicy. Like turn you red in the face spicy. Like steam coming out of your ears spicy."

"Oh, are you sure you're okay with that Zell?" Rinoa asked. Even if Selphie was exaggerating, she didn't want Zell to upset himself.

Zell didn't like Selphie and Rinoa questioning his eating abilities. He was a muscular guy with a big appetite. He could handle all types of food. Spicy food included. He didn't need them nagging him. "No problem!" Zell answered. "You ladies don't need to worry about me. I have a cast-iron stomach."

He quickly ordered The Doom Train, eager to eat something new. This was going to be a special Monday.

* * *

Squall marched down the cobblestone street with the wind whistling by his ears. He ducked closer in the fur collar of his coat. Balamb didn't get extremely cold, it wasn't frozen like Trabia, but damp cold had a way of soaking into a person's bones. He hoped he find this place soon or he was tempted to just give up and go back to the office. He'd already been outside longer than he'd expected.

He looked up and down the winding street he was standing on, not sure which direction to try next. How'd he feel so lost in a place that was so familiar to him? He figured he would have found this restaurant fairly easily even though he didn't know exactly where it was. Balamb town was a quaint seaside place, and by quaint he meant small. He looked up and down the next street, not seeing the train cafe either. He turned and headed back towards the train station. It would make the most sense if it was in that region of town. And that was in the "downtown" area of Balamb, at least the closest thing to a downtown it had. There were a few shops, restaurants, and a hotel in that area.

Unfortunately wandering, even a little bit, was wasting precious lunch hour time. He hoped they wouldn't be done and gone by the time he got there. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself to keep warm against the chilly air. He kept walking down the winding street and hoped it was around the next corner.

He hated feeling lost.

* * *

Zell's eyes glistened as he looked down at the little red basket. It had just puttered to a stop right before him, brought to him by a little toy train. The train was cute, but he didn't care about that. He just wanted to sink his teeth into his lunch. And it was a glorious sight. A foot long hot dog covered in a thick and rich chili. And that chili was topped with grated cheddar cheese and chopped white onions. It was a feast for his eyes alone! And that didn't even count the regular fries and cheese fries that Selphie had also ordered for him. Each side order of fries had come in their own basket. The entire train was his lunch.

He figured that they'd just come on the side of his hot dog, but in the same basket. Somehow he'd gotten two separate orders. Maybe the waiter had misunderstood. He didn't want that many fries. But if you were going to have too much of a thing, too many fries wasn't so bad.

He let his eyes take in the delicious scene before him for a few more moments. He wanted to save the image into his brain. You eat with your eyes first when you truly wanted to enjoy a meal experience. Then the meaty smell of the hot dog made his mouth water and he decided he'd better get to work if he wanted to get back to the office in any kind of reasonable time.

He picked up the foot long hot dog and tried to balance it delicately in his hand. No matter how he tried to juggle it, the overabundant chili spilled over onto his hand slightly burning him. He was going to make a mess no matter what today. He sighed and took a bite.

All his senses focused on this bite. He tuned out his dining companions and the colorful train atmosphere. He chewed and started taking mental notes.

It tasted even better than it looked. First off, the hot dog had a nice snap to it. Good all beef flavor. You couldn't have a good chili dog without a good basic hot dog as the base. And then there was the chili. It was a combination of rich meat, tomatoes and beans topped with cheese and chopped onions. It would have been a hearty meal in itself. He could imagine his ma making something like this on a cold winter's night. It was delicious, but it had a mild spice mixed into it. Pleasant and flavorful with a nice heat. It was nothing like Selphie warned him about. He could handle it. This restaurant was for babies.

He took another bite, wanting to continue his culinary odyssey. Wonderful hot dog bliss. He thought he heard Rinoa ask him if he like his hot dog, he wasn't sure. He was too busy enjoying himself. It was so good. He stopped chewing and blinked for a moment, did he feel the edges of his lips start to burn just a little bit? Maybe it was his imagination? No, the heat kept building. His eyes started to water, and then he grabbed for his tiny child-sized glass of water. He chugged it, not that it was helping any.

"Waiter," he called, wanting more water. He slapped his hand on the tabletop to get his attention faster.

"You okay Zell?" Selphie asked while chewing her food. Rinoa looked at him with concern.

* * *

Squall walked into the restaurant and looked around. It looked like a classic diner mixed with a toyshop. Posters featuring toy trains were featured on the walls, as well as teddy bears dressed as train engineers in various whimsical positions. Everything was colorful and busy, which would be fun for a child, but it was overwhelming for Squall. He tried to scan the restaurant, but it was hard to see from where he was at. The diner was very narrow, yet long. A long counter top stretched all the way from the front to the back of the restaurant, but there were a length of cozy booths made of red vinyl hugging the wall too.

Where were they?

The general layout of the restaurant made it hard for Squall to see if his coworkers were there, but he was also having trouble finding them because there was movement everywhere. Intricate train tracks wove around the restaurant with toy trains bearing steaming baskets of food. They were in constant motion and he tried to get his eyes to settle on something stationary in vain. Children wiggled everywhere while their moms tried to steady them and get them to eat. His eyes saw one young mom at the back the restaurant frantically trying to pat her large son on the back while he appeared to be sputtering on his food.

Her really, really large son who was wearing casual work clothes.

His eyes narrowed as he realized it was just Selphie and Zell. How'd he think Zell was a kid? Zell was shorter than average, but no child would be that wide. At least not in an athletic way like Zell was. And Selphie could be a young mom, but she wouldn't have a kid who was roughly her own age. Squall was disappointed in his ability to quickly gauge a situation. He must have been thrown off by the context of the children's restaurant.

Squall decided to try again and quickly scan the place. If Selphie and Zell were eating lunch, Rinoa had to be nearby. A blur ran up to Zell offering him a stack of paper napkins.

Squall dodged a small running child as he slowly walked closer to his co-workers. His mind went into overdrive now that he was here. How should he explain himself? Should he just sit there with them like this was normal? For all they knew he was a regular customer at this place.

While his mind reeled he slid into the unoccupied stool next to Zell. He would have loved to have taken a seat next to Rinoa, but he didn't want to be too obvious. Although was coming all the way out here just for a chance to be with her not obvious enough? They were going to find out why he was here and laugh at him. Rinoa already had a boyfriend and here he was mooning after her. He hardly even knew her.

"Hello," Rinoa said while leaning forward, dark hair swinging in front of her face. She gave Squall a small wave. Selphie and Zell hadn't noticed him yet because they were too busy summoning the courage to combat The Doom Train.

Squall nodded his head at Rinoa and drummed his fingers on the countertop.

That's right. He was there. She noticed him. Now what?

Squall noticed that Rinoa was picking at a half finished grilled cheese sandwich in a little red basket in front of her. Her fingertips were shiny with grease.

Lunch. That's what he was going to do. He was going to order some lunch. That was his cover story after all. It was lunch time and he was going to eat. He picked up a menu that was wedged between the plastic mustard and ketchup bottles that were near him. What should he get? He looked over as Zell was coughing and wiping chili stains of his face with a brown paper napkin. Zell seemed to be having trouble with the hot dogs at this restaurant.

"I'll have a hamburger," Squall said to the waiter that swiftly appeared next to him.

At the sound of Squall's voice, Selphie spun around. Zell looked up suddenly through red and watery eyes.

"Yo, it's Squall!" Zell exclaimed between coughs.

Selphie put on a huge smile. One more person had come to her favorite restaurant. She must be very persuasive. It warmed her heart.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you come out to lunch with us," Zell said. Squall shrugged at him. "Doesn't make sense." Squall's face paled slightly at Zell's remarks.

"But you're welcome anytime," Selphie added with a little bounce. Her expression was unsure, but hopeful. She turned to look at Zell briefly. "Although this is kinda weird." She felt that she had to agree with him a tiny bit as well.

Squall knew they were going to notice him doing anything out of character. Maybe he shouldn't have come. This was a mistake. He was even thinking of leaving as he glanced over at Rinoa's open face and her deep brown eyes. No, he came all the way out here. He was going to soldier it out. He was going to make it plausible and natural.

"I wanted to get out of the office today," Squall explained. Zell's eyebrows knit together and his mouth pulled to the side. Selphie looked at him blankly. "Seifer," he added. Suddenly Zell nodded his head at him, it all made much more sense now. He would have wanted to get away from Seifer too. Selphie made a big "oh" with her mouth at the mention of him. That explained everything to satisfaction for her.

"Hey Squall," Rinoa called across the counter to him. Squall's face immediately perked up. He looked towards her as much as he dared, but not looking her directly in the eyes. "Don't order The Doom Train," she said slowly and with emphasis. Squall didn't know what she was talking about, but it didn't matter. "Just for future reference," she said quickly and with a smile. Squall wanted to smile along with her too. This felt like a private inside joke, except he didn't know what she was talking about.

Selphie continued to eat her hot dog that was covered in yellow mustard while Zell had slowed to a stop with his meal. Every once in a while he'd venture to take another bite, and then several sips of water. He decided to turn his attention to his plentiful baskets of fries.

"Are you gonna finish your lunch Zell?" Selphie asked while snagging a fry out of his basket.

"I'm just pacing myself," Zell said, his eyes still red rimmed and watery.

"There's no shame in being beaten by The Doom Train," Selphie said. "You gave it your best shot." She motioned to the waiter. "Could we get a little doggie bag for my friend?" she asked.

Zell smiled a tight smile. He was scared she was going to make him finish the spicy monstrosity later at work just to show him that he should have listened to her warning.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to waste food. Totally gonna eat it later," Zell said, "at home." He tried eating some more of his fries.

Zell sat there while he felt his stomach let out a rumble. Uh oh. Zell didn't want to face any negative consequences from his lunch choice.

"Squall, it's great to see you drop by, but I think I gotta get going. I have to run an errand before I get back to work," Zell said. That chili was rumbling in his gut already. He better stop and pick up some antacids or he was going to be in agony for the rest of the afternoon.

Selphie swiveled towards Squall to explain. "Zell didn't listen to me and ordered the super spicy Doom Train chili dog." She leaned in close and whispered to Squall. "The next stop for the Doom Train is going to be Toilet Town."

Zell sat up and sputtered. "I'm just gonna get some antacids!" he yelped.

"Selphie," Rinoa said, feeling bad for Zell.

Zell felt that he had to explain. "I can handle spicy food, but that was a whole separate level of spicy," Zell said. "I thought my stomach was made of cast iron, but maybe it's not. Gonna get some chalky mint flavored goodness to ease the burning."

"Yuck, the white mint ones?" Selphie asked. "What are you, some kinda old lady?" She waved her hands in front of her face. "Trust me, get the colorful fruity flavored ones. They taste better and they work way better too."

Squall was worried that the two people that suggested this particular restaurant had such strong opinions about antacids.

"What brand are those?" Zell asked.

"I don't know the name, but I know what they look like." She suddenly hopped up from her stool and grabbed Zell by the back of his arm. "I'm gonna come with you and make sure you get the right ones. And don't even think about getting the generic version. Why bother doing something if you aren't going to do it right?"

"Selphie I don't..." Zell complained.

"I'm helping you!" Selphie protested as she wolfed down the rest of her hot dog. She slapped down enough money for the both of them before ushering Zell towards the restaurant's exit. "See you guys at the office soon," Selphie said with her mouth half full. She continued to bicker with Zell as they left.

Squall's heart rate picked up. Now that Selphie and Zell left, he was alone with Rinoa. It was almost like a date, except nobody had asked the other person out, they were each paying for their own meals, and Rinoa was unaware of his feelings for her. But otherwise it was a date. They were dining alone together.

A loud child ran by him while slapping him on the back with a hard plastic toy airplane. The child's high pitched screams zoomed off into the distance while he made blubbering airplane noises. Almost alone.

Rinoa looked across at him, feeling the distance between them. It was strange to eat with somebody with two empty bar stools in between them. She got up and stacked Selphie and Zell's red plastic lunch baskets. She shoved them off to the side to be collected by wait staff.

"If you don't mind, I'm just gonna get a little closer now that they're gone," Rinoa said.

Squall didn't mind.

"Sorry that Seifer was annoying to you at work," Rinoa chatted. "I've known a lot of guys who could be like that."

So Rinoa knew lots of guys? What guys? Was she talking about Angelo? Was Angelo an overbearing jerk like Seifer? How could she stand him? Why would she want to be with a guy like that? And what sort of people did she know back home?

"Yeah," he agreed, hoping she'd keep up a largely one-sided conversation. They sat in silence for a minute. As much as he didn't want to have to talk, he figured he should ask something.

"Do you miss home?" Squall asked.

Rinoa sat up straighter on her stool and her eyes looked up towards the ceiling. She let out a big puff of breath that made her bangs flutter. "Hmmm, I don't think I've even been here long enough to miss home. And this nice island setting is making me feel like I'm only on a vacation. It's so much more temperate out here and the beaches look great. The fact that I moved out here hasn't even set in yet. So I guess I'm not missing home." She tipped her head from side to side. "Yet."

 _But what about the people?_ Squall thought.

"People?" Squall asked, not looking at her, pretending that her answer wasn't of great interest to him.

"Ha! Getting away from a certain person was why I moved here," she laughed. Squall sat up slightly, shocked at her exclamation. "It was a great motivator to my career decision." She clicked her tongue against her teeth.

 _Abusive boyfriend?_ Squall thought. He looked over at her with widened eyes, not being able to hide a concerned look on his face.

"Oh," she said. "That sounded kinda bad. I just meant that it was a relief to get away from my father." She shrugged her shoulders. "Stern overprotective fathers, you know."

Squall didn't know. That didn't sound like his father at all. He quickly had a flashback of being a scared little boy wearing water wings at the edge of a pool. While thinking of tentatively dipping a toe in the water he suddenly was pushed in by his shirtless and sunburned father. His father had laughingly cheered to, "just go for it!" as he flew through the air. He could still remember the cold shock and water being splashed into his face and up his nose. He was only a toddler and he didn't know he wasn't going to drown. He'd been terrified. Luckily his mother had enough common sense to give him water wings when he was near a pool with his impulsive father. She'd also been close by to rescue him as he screamed for help. He clearly remembered snuggling his wet face into the cool shade of her sunhat as she lifted him up onto her shoulder and out of the water.

"Friends?" Squall asked, willing the memory away.

"I still chat with my friends online," Rinoa said. "So I guess I'm not missing them yet. It's like I've barely been gone at all. If anything, it feels that Zone talks to me even more know that I've moved out here. He's such a worrier." She laughed.

 _She knows a lot of guys,_ he thought.

"And Watts never was the most talkative person, but he sends me pictures a lot."

 _And yet another guy. A guy who sends her pictures. Pictures of what?_ The best scenario Squall could think of was him sending shirtless bathroom mirror pics. And the worst case scenario he didn't even want to internally verbalize to himself. _Doesn't she have any girlfriends?_

"And it's not like I'm alone and cooped up inside. I have Angelo."

Yes, she had her boyfriend. Couldn't forget about _that_ guy.

"Angelo loves walks," she said as she took another bite of her sandwich. "Really excited for them. Long walks on the beach." She took a sip of water. "All the time."

Ugh, Mr. sexy-name was a romantic? Squall hadn't envisioned that. He figured he'd be a rough guy who sat around watching sports while taking Rinoa for granted. If he was romantic, it would be more of a competition for Squall to win Rinoa over.

But maybe Squall could be romantic too. He tried picturing a romantic setting between himself and Rinoa. He tried and failed. The best he could picture was training Rinoa on how to make collated copies on the copier at work. Even if they managed to accidentally brush hands while pulling out a hot and freshly collated batch of copies, it still wasn't romantic at all.

He was not good in this department.

Squall started picturing himself taking a long walk on the beach with Rinoa. It wasn't original, but it was much better and definitely romantic.

And once again he was disgusted with himself. Not only was he plotting to steal Rinoa away, he was plotting badly.

Maybe he should just be quiet and stop thinking. He was very good at being quiet, but he'd never figured out how to make himself stop thinking.

He waited for his food to arrive, not knowing what to do or say. He stared at the chrome paper napkin dispenser in front of him. His reflection was warped across it's curved surface, making his face seem monstrous and distorted. He suddenly grabbed some napkins and started mopping up spilled chili dog residue like it was the most important thing in the world. Rinoa continued to nibble at her sandwich. He didn't know how she was making it last so long. His heart hoped she was doing it as an excuse to stay longer with him. He swallowed and heard it audibly and cringed. He hoped she didn't know how nervous he was.

"Hungry?" she asked him.

Squall nodded his head without looking over at her. He looked up and saw that his hamburger was finally arriving on the back of a toy train. While Squall was pondering what was the most manly way to remove a hamburger from a toy train in a children's restaurant, Rinoa pulled it out and set it in front of him.

"Cute, huh?" she asked. She pulled up a neon green pickle spear a took a little bite. "What are you waiting for?" Rinoa asked him.

"What?"

"We'd better hurry, so we can get back to work on time," she explained.

"Yeah," Squall agreed and he grabbed his burger and took a huge bite. He had to hurry, Rinoa told him so.

"How is it?" she asked.

Squall chewed his hamburger. It was cooked well, the meat was juicy. Lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, ketchup, and mustard topped it. Altogether it was a perfectly decent hamburger, but he didn't register that opinion because he barely tasted it. All he could think about was Rinoa. The way she was sitting there and looking at him curiously with her dark eyes.

How'd he get to this point? Why was he so scared of normal things like this? And more importantly, how could he repeat this scenario, but in a more ambient location?

As he chewed, he realized that his social fears may be unfounded, and that socializing wasn't so bad... if it was with the right person.

He swallowed.

"This is... pretty good," he finished.

End of chapter 9

* * *

Author's notes: I've actually been to a restaurant like this with my niece and nephew. Selphie would love it. (And I've been sitting on this chapter for a while. I wasn't sure if it was cute and fun enough to post, but I worked on it a bit more and here it is. There are more chapters to come. I have a few half finished chapters I'm working on too.)


	10. Chapter 10: Here's Angelo!

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for Fun.)

Chapter 10: Here's Angelo!

* * *

Rinoa combed through her wet hair slowly and systematically, not missing a single tangled strand. She wanted her hair to dry properly, and that wasn't going to happen if she left it the way it was when she got out of the shower. She wanted a sleek look . She continued to comb until she went through all the longer parts, then she pulled her bangs down in front of her eyes and tried to decide if they needed a trim. They were getting longer, but not too long. She thought she could wait to get a haircut. She finally smoothed her hair with her hands, deciding she'd done a good job. She sighed and flipped her comb onto the couch cushion beside her with a plop.

Weekends could be pretty boring for a person who was new to town.

Rinoa propped her feet up on her coffee table and wiggled her toes which were clad in a pair of freshly laundered socks. They were comfortable, but very well worn socks. Should she get new ones? That'd give her something to do. Maybe she'd go out of her comfort zone and get some bright colors or wacky designs. That would liven up her life.

Yea right.

While she continued to contemplate her socks, her feet knocked into her closed laptop lid. This reminded her of the wide world that was outside her boring apartment. Maybe she should go online. Maybe she should check up on her old friends. Just see how they were doing. But not sound lonely or desperate or anything. She wasn't planning on wasting the whole weekend online.

She'd just pop on really quickly. Then she'd get off. On. Off. Quick.

She got up off the couch and flipped her damp and drying hair over her shoulders. She reached out and opened her laptop, waiting for it to boot up. She tapped her fingernails on her coffee table.

 _I'll just check Network Square for a few minutes. That's it._

She quickly logged on and scrolled through her notifications. Boring. Boring. Boring. Somebody was on a fabulous vacation. Jealous. Boring. Boring. Boring.

Why'd she think this was going to solve her boredom?

She puttered around on her computer while time slipped by. Clicking on anything halfway of interest, and even some with no interest at all for her. Cake recipes? Click. Weight loss tips? Click. D-list celebrity gossip? Click. Financial advice. Click. D-list celebrity weight loss tips and financial advice? Click.

So boring.

She heard a little bell and was alerted to the fact that one of her Network Square friends had come online. Yes. This is what she'd been wanting. Real human contact. Or at least the online Network Square equivalent of it. Goodbye boredom.

She saw a little icon with Zone's blurry face on it pop up. Yes, it was Zone. Zone was a good friend. This was good. Good. Good. Good.

"Hey, Zone. How are you doing?" Rinoa typed eagerly. She leaned forward and bit her lip. She waited. The cursor blinked. She hoped he wasn't going to log out without seeing her message.

 _Come on. Come on. Come on_ , she hoped harder. Hoping hard felt a lot like holding your breath. Nothing happened. More lip biting and breath holding.

Just when she was about to give up and log off herself, he typed "ok."

That wasn't the sort of friendly greeting she'd been wanting, but she'd been so happy to see that Zone was online at all. She needed to talk with somebody. Living alone could be pretty dull. She was surprised and disappointed that Zone didn't seem very talkative today. He usually was sending her messages all the time to check up on her. Was he forgetting about her already? Was he moving on friend-wise?

"How's Watts? I haven't seen him online as much lately," Rinoa typed, hoping to get more of a response.

"Don't get me started," Zone typed back quickly.

Rinoa was relieved that he answered so quickly, but she was worried that something might be wrong with Watts. Out of the two of them, Watts seemed to be the more even keeled guy. She wondered what was going on, worried but more than halfway curious too.

"Pretty please get started. I want to know about Watts," she typed. She wanted to know about anybody. She was bored.

"His head is in the clouds. Met a woman at a bar," Zone typed.

She was glad it wasn't anything serious, but she couldn't help but hold back a giggle. It was hard to imagine either of her two friends with women. They were kinda weird and nerdy.

"What's she like?" She was dying to know the type of woman Watts would be into.

"Ok. I better tell you the story."

Rinoa started getting excited. Storytime!

"Tell me more!" she typed.

"He accidentally bumped into a person at the bar," Zone typed.

Rinoa already knew that much. Where were the juicy details?

"Then he said, 'excuse me sir' to this lady," Zone continued to type.

Rinoa laughed. Now that was a fun tidbit, and it was a very Watts thing to do.

"That didn't go over very well with the woman. She yelled at him and nearly hit him. But maybe he liked the attention because he ended up buying her a drink. Several actually."

Rinoa could just imagine a woman at a bar being called 'sir.' She wouldn't have liked that, and she was sure that woman didn't either.

"What's her name?" She was still trying to imagine the sort of woman that Watts would call 'sir.' It wasn't very helpful because he called most people by that term. Did she look tomboyish or was Watts just being Watts?

"She calls herself Forest Fox."

Rinoa bit her lip. This story was getting sillier and sillier. Now she was imagining a glamorous redheaded woman who oozed confidence to the point of being arrogant. She imagine the woman with her shoulders back and head held high in the air looking down on Watts.

Zone continued to type to Rinoa. "I don't know what her real name is. Maybe Watts has to buy her some more drinks to get her to tell him. He's been going to this bar night after night to see if he can find her again. And that's the story of why Watts hasn't been online much. He's been ignoring both of us."

"Sorry Zone," Rinoa typed with a smile. "I'll always be there for you."

A few minutes passed. Rinoa waited. She thought they were having fun. Why'd he stop typing? Maybe he was in the bathroom and didn't want to mention it.

"Will you?" Zone replied a few minutes later.

"Yes," Rinoa answered. Uh oh. Zone was getting into one of his moods. Rinoa thought that maybe she'd cut the chat short. Zone always got weird when romantic relationships were mentioned. "Oh, I gotta get going Zone. Nice chatting with you. Time to take Angelo out for a walk," Rinoa typed before quickly logging out. That wasn't entirely a lie. Angelo was always up for going on a walk. And it probably was time to go out. She closed her laptop lid with a snap.

Rinoa felt lazy, but she should go outside with Angelo. Angelo deserved a walk and it was time for one. She didn't want to feel like she'd lied to Zone either. It was just a strategically timed dog walk. She'd better get ready.

She felt at her hair. It was mostly dry. By the time she got ready to go out, it'd be completely dry. And even if it wasn't, she always had her hair dryer. She certainly didn't want to catch a chill. She gathered up her things and called to Angelo. They were going to get ready. It was time for some fresh Balamb air.

* * *

Rinoa walked through the park feeling warm and bundled up. It was a beautiful day, and many of Balamb's local residents were also enjoying the park. She could see children playing, people walking, and a variety dog owners. She walked some more and the activity further warmed her. She removed her gloves and stuffed them into her pocket. She took a few more steps. The sun broke through the fluffy white clouds and beamed down on her face. She squinted. The sunshine wasn't as direct as it would be in the summertime, the angle was different, but sweat start to break out on her forehead nonetheless. She was warm, hot even. Hot and stuffy.

Rinoa suddenly unzipped her jacket, wanting to break free from the burden of the unnecessary layers she'd forced herself into wearing. She'd apparently overdressed herself as it was surprisingly warm outside. A rush of relatively cool air provided some much needed relief as she fanned her jacket out furiously.

 _Why didn't I check the weather report?_

She resolved to be more aware next time. She hadn't gotten the hang of Balamb weather yet. She knew what to expect seasonally from Deling, but it seemed that Balamb weather was unpredictable. At least it was for her, for now.

 _Is this Balamb's version of a winter thaw?_

Rinoa could remember those special midwinter days during her childhood. Being able to throw off heavy winter coats to go play in the bright sunshine amongst dirty gray snow piles of slush and ice was a joy. You never knew what you'd find when those filthy things melted. It was like finding buried treasure. Although that treasure was usually just fast food trash or a lost glove. Then in a day or two of relative heat, it was back to bundling up against frigid windchills for a few more months. The dirty gray snow piles would become white again with new snow, and ever higher. But that little taste of pleasant weather had always hastened her desire for spring. She longed to smell sweet flowers and hear the clear and high notes of bird songs.

Well, this wasn't as severe a change in temperature as it would be in Deling City, but it was nice to have a break from wet and chilly weather. Although she didn't think it actually counted as a thaw since it had never really been below freezing in the first place. It felt wonderfully warm in comparison to the damp and dreary weather they'd been having recently. She thought Balamb would always be warm and sunny, but she'd found out that winter was winter everywhere. At least in some capacity.

She was happy that she'd decided to take Angelo to the park. She wished she hadn't wasted so much of the day being cooped up inside being bored. She felt wonderful out in the fresh air. She had more energy and her mood brightened.

Angelo let out a happy bark as she ran through the grassy field. Rinoa smiled at her playfulness. She was glad to be outside as much as her dog. Who knew how long this nice weather would last? Not too long, she figured. Winter was bound to return in full force, but until then, she'd pretend that spring was nearly around the corner.

Angelo bounded up to her and dropped a soggy yellow tennis ball on the grass at her feet.

"Good doggy," Rinoa exclaimed in a high pitched and encouraging voice. "Want to play some more?"

The dog looked up with excited and pleading eyes, so Rinoa picked up the tennis ball. She reached back and got ready to throw as far as she could. In one smooth motion she let loose, and the tennis ball flew wildly out into the park. Angelo ran after it, feet slipping in the wet grass.

Rinoa smiled after her dog, not sure where the tennis ball had landed. She dug her hands around in her pockets, and was glad that the dog was having a fun time. She was having a great day too. She'd been enjoying her time in her new adopted town. And the entire island of Balamb had a nice atmosphere. There were mountains, fields, seascapes, and even these great little parks full of trees, paths, ponds, and playgrounds. And unlike Deling City, she felt 100% safe, even as a woman on her own. She bet she could walk through this park at nighttime and not be bothered. She certainly couldn't say the same of Deling City.

It was great. She was doing okay on her own so far. It wasn't scary, like she thought it might be.

Her dad was worrying needlessly about his adult and perfectly capable "little girl." Zone was worried too, and for no reason at all. Even Rinoa admittedly had been slightly nervous about living alone in a new place, and she needn't have been. Balamb was a great place. She could even... but she didn't get to finish that thought.

Rough masculine hands grabbed her from behind. She was pulled. Her feet stumbled. The world spun. Her balance was gone like she was flying through space untethered. Nauseous fear surged through her stomach as she was crushed backwards into a thick muscular chest. She didn't have time to react as she felt hot breath on her left ear. Her body was in shock, but she would have screamed if she had the breath or presence of mind to do so.

"Hey Rinoa," the man said playfully as he released her. "How you doing?"

Rinoa nearly fell to her knees as she stumbled in the grass. She jumped away with her arms raised defensively over her head. She got ready for a fight or at least some type of struggle. She wasn't going to go down without trying to defend herself. Where was her trusty dog?

The man quickly stepped away when he saw her protective stance. He didn't think she'd do much damage if she hit him, but he wanted to avoid it if he could. "Whoa, settle down! I didn't mean to scare you."

Rinoa turned and was amazed to see who it was. She'd never thought she'd see this guy out in Balamb. It was like he was from another world. Her recognition turned her queasy fear into hot anger.

"Well then don't grab me by surprise when I'm out by myself!" Rinoa nearly screamed.

She looked the man over. What was he thinking? Was he truly not aware of what he looked like? He was a giant muscular tank of a man who was covered in tattoos and facial scars. She was a young woman, not 'one of the guys' with whom he could rough-house with. And he should have NEVER grabbed her from behind like that. He was just lucky that she hadn't ever taken a self-defense course.

Actually a self-defense course would be a pretty good idea. She'd consider it later, but now she had to have a 'talking to' with this man. She tried to organize her thoughts while she stared at him with her mouth half open, still surprised.

She looked at him more closely.

She wondered what he was doing half dressed? It was slightly warmer outside, but not THAT warm. He probably would walk around stripped to the waist if he could. He had on a short sleeved black leather shirt that was open. Open, completely open! She could see his entire chest, abs, and tattoos. Maybe if a leather shirt was too hot to wear buttoned up, he could wear a cotton shirt like a _normal person_. At least that's what she thought.

She looked further down at him. If all of this wasn't bad enough, his pants were leather too. Unbelievable. What kind of person would wear that much leather?

 _At least he's wearing pants,_ Rinoa thought to herself. _For now,_ she added, _until his legs get too hot._ She laughed to herself at the thought.

"Gladio, what are you doing here?" she asked with exasperation.

"Can't I check up on my little cousin?" Gladio asked. "To see how she's doing?"

"You came all the way out from Deling City to Balamb to just see how I was doing?" Rinoa asked with a strangled yell of disbelief. Her breath caught in outrage. She grit her teeth and breathed through her nose. There was no way Gladio would have come out here for her. They weren't the closest of relatives, cousins or not. She didn't see him that much outside larger family gatherings. He was more likely to see her father than her.

She remembered Gladio visiting with Caraway in his study whenever he visited. She didn't know why he visited, but she had seen their easy interactions. Those interactions were a huge contrast to the strained tension she felt when she was with her father. It made her wonder if her father would have preferred to have had a son instead of a daughter. Maybe that stemmed from her dad not knowing what to do with her. It made her sad that Gladio had a much closer relationship with the general than she did. Caraway definitely cared about her safety, but he had trouble connecting with her as an individual.

But of course it would have been very like her father to send Gladio out here to spy on her.

"Did my dad make you come out here?" Rinoa asked. Gladio raised his thick dark eyebrows at the question. "Is he paying you?"

"Whoa Rinoa, those are a lot of questions considering you haven't seen me in a while," Gladio said while scratching at the rough stubble on the side of his face.

"Actually it was just two," she said while crossing her arms over her chest. "But I've got more. Are you staying or just visiting?"

"How 'bout I take you out for a coffee, and we can catch up with each other. Then you can hammer me with as many questions as you'd like. Totally pound away."

 _Ew. He sounds gross. Does he mean to?_ Rinoa thought. She couldn't believe her father would send a guy like Gladio to check up on her. If they weren't blood-related, he was the sort of guy he'd keep very far away from her.

She saw Angelo returning to her with the tennis ball.

"Angelo!" she said loudly, glad that her dog had come back. Her face beamed at her furry friend.

* * *

Squall did a pull-up. His arms strained with the effort and his abs tensed as his chin went over the bar. He wasn't the most muscular guy in the world, but he was strong in a lean sort of way. At least he was strong for an office worker. He did another pull-up. His gray hooded sweatshirt was getting damp with all the activity.

It felt good.

He was enjoying the mild Balamb winter day and decided to exercise outside in the nearby park. Sometimes just doing push-up and sit-ups in his apartment wasn't the most exciting. And the apartment complex's exercise room was full of stuffy and stale air, not to mention the blaring TV set that somehow was always trapped on some kind of horrible station. And even without those cons, the dusty treadmill there was inferior to the experience of jogging through the serenity of nature.

He was glad there were so many circuit activity stations throughout the trails. Although his favorite one was the pull-up bar. It was more fun to use his own body weight to strengthen himself than just lifting weights. He finished another pull-up and then dropped lightly onto his feet. He slicked his sweaty hair back off his forehead, his face fully soaking in the sunlight.

He stretched out his muscles before resuming his jog through the park. He took a deep breath and continued onward. Within a minute his sneakers were pounding the pavement of the winding trail in an even rhythm.

Physical fitness was a priority. He sat enough at work. And while he enjoyed unwinding at home on his couch, he was no couch potato. His mind melted from boredom and monotony at work, but he wasn't going to let his body melt too. He hadn't given up on life that much. He didn't want to turn into a pudgy sweater-vest wearing old man before his time, and hopefully not ever, if he was being honest with himself.

And exercise was a great way to empty the mind and work out his frustrations, whatever they were. If he didn't exercise as much, he'd have an even harder time falling and staying asleep than he usually did. Restless nights were common for him. This was the easiest way to deal with it.

While he was staring straight forward, a neon yellow tennis ball flew past him. He turned his head to see it land in the middle of a nearby bush. He saw a dog bounding after it.

 _The kid who threw that ball has bad aim_ , he thought to himself. _His dad needs to play with him more._

Squall watched as the dog started digging and whining through the dirt to find the ball. It took some effort and a lot of doggy snuffling, but it was achieved. Once the ball was acquired, the dog turned to run back towards the open field. When Squall lifted his head to see, and he caught sight of a familiar person.

 _Rinoa,_ he thought, excited to see her outside of work and on a non-work day. Or weekends, as they were usually called.

He slowly jogged in place and his pulse quickened instead of slowing down. The wheels of his mind started to turn. He imagined how nice it would be to 'accidentally' bump into her. He could start a normal conversation. Maybe she'd smile at him. Maybe she'd laugh at something funny he'd say. Maybe he'd smile at her. Maybe they could go out for coffee. Maybe they could date. Maybe they could...

Rinoa laughing at something funny he'd say? It was one thing to be imaginative, it was another thing to be delusional. When had anybody laughed at anything funny he'd ever said? He wasn't known for his comedic skills. He wasn't really known for talking either.

Squall sighed in frustration. Rinoa was never going to laugh at something funny he'd say, but while his little reverie wasn't the most realistic, it wasn't impossible that he could at least chat with Rinoa in the park. That was something he could pull off. They'd spoken before at work. They'd spoken at the train cafe. They knew each other's names. He could try.

But first he had to get closer to her.

Squall tried to think of a way to casually jog nearer to her so they could accidentally meet up. He wanted to get closer to her, but not in a way that seemed like he was doing it on purpose. Although he _would_ be doing it on purpose, he didn't want it to look that way. Maybe he could even nod his head at her and say something to her while he jogged past. Something along the lines of, 'oh hello.'

The trail through the park wasn't an extremely long loop. Maybe he could even get to do it several times before she took her dog and went home.

That was an okay plan. If it didn't work out, he wouldn't feel rejected or look needy. He'd just look like he was acknowledging an acquaintance in public. No pressure.

He started jogging down the trail to see if he could get on a loop nearer to her. His eyes were trained on her as he jogged, even if his head was facing forwards at all time. Stealthy and observant, or so he thought.

He was just as surprised as Rinoa was when he saw her get grabbed from behind by a large man clad in black and a tight shirt with a weird design on it. Was she in danger? He thought of jumping off the trail and running through the bushes and trees to get to her quicker. He saw that she'd turned around and seemingly responded as if she knew the man. Squall was relieved. He stayed on the trail and went closer to them. Maybe if he got close enough he could hear what they were saying. Rinoa's body posture looked defensive and they looked like they were fighting.

As Squall got closer, he saw that the guy's black clothes were made of leather, even his pants. And the design on his 'shirt' was actually a tattoo on his skin. Somehow this guy was in the zone between wearing a shirt and being shirtless. His shirt was so open that he was almost shirtless, even though he was still technically wearing a shirt. Squall wondered if he'd be served in a fast food restaurant. At least he was wearing shoes.

He didn't look like the sort of guy Rinoa would hang out with. Not that he knew Rinoa well, but he thought he did. He thought about her enough that he'd concocted a whole narrative about her in his mind. But did his conception of her match up with reality? Maybe. Maybe not. But Squall didn't think he'd be so off the mark that this guy would be her best friend.

"Angelo!" he heard Rinoa call.

Squall let out a soft gasp. _Angelo! That guy is ANGELO?! He's just the way I imagined him!_ Squall's nostrils flared in anger.

He could see how disturbed Rinoa was by this man's presence. And he'd heard that she was in a long term relationship with this Angelo? How was that possible? Maybe they'd started dating when she was a young impressionable teen and he hadn't been a huge hulking monster yet. And maybe now she was too scared to leave? Squall thought that Angelo seemed abusive. He certainly looked rough and grabby.

Squall wished he could rush in there and save her. Save her from what? Save her from a mild argument? Save her from her own choices?

Save her for himself?

Yea, that's what a jerk of a 'nice guy' would think. Squall didn't want to be like that.

Squall watched helplessly as Rinoa and 'Angelo' walked out of the park with Rinoa's dog.

"Angelo," Squall growled under his breath while clenching his fist.

* * *

Rinoa's mind was still reeling from having coffee with Gladio. He'd never answered how long he was visiting for, no matter how many times she'd asked about the nature of his visit. She'd eventually given up and let him just talk about himself. She'd gulped down the rest of her vanilla latte and left the coffee shop when Gladio was in the bathroom.

Gladio had found her in the park. He could just go find her again if that was his mission. She wasn't going to make it easy for him. The big jerk. He could have at least answered some actual questions. Now she was going to have to contact her father to get some answers. If she wanted them that badly.

Rinoa slipped her bare hand into her pocket and felt for the keys to her apartment. The damp chilly wind tore through her jacket and she shivered. It had gotten colder somehow when she was distracted by Gladio. She was trying to hurry, but it was only making her more clumsy. Her hand gripped at a lint ball and a hard candy before finally settling on the cold metal keys.

 _Got them!_ she thought to herself triumphantly.

She stuck them into the keyhole while Angelo barked and scratched the door. The dog let out a long whine. She really wanted in.

Rinoa swung the door open while a voice behind her caused her to nearly jump out of her skin.

"Hey beautiful!"

She dropped her keys and nearly screamed while Angelo bounded inside. Rinoa turned towards Gladio and almost yelled. "What are you doing here?" She clutched at her chest in alarm.

Gladio leaned on the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm just being friendly, and I was in neighborhood," he explained.

"You didn't need to follow me to my home," Rinoa said. "Like some kind of big," she took a pause, "weirdo." Stalker would have been a better term, but she didn't use it.

"I didn't follow you," he said. "Like I said, I was in the neighborhood. And I'm just being friendly, as in, friendly neighbor." He jerked his head towards the apartment door directly next to hers. His scratched door had peeling paint and the number 15 on the front of it.

Rinoa's eyebrows knit together for a second before they lifted in surprise. "Neighbor?" she asked.

 _I'm gonna kill my dad_ , she thought with her teeth clenched together.

"Okay, well I'm going to go inside now, neighbor," she said while emphasizing the last word.

She quickly went into her apartment and shut the door, leaving her cousin/paid bodyguard/neighbor outside in the growing cold.

Her dad had to be paying Gladio to keep tabs on her. Was General Caraway that scared for her safety? Balamb was a nice place to live. There weren't scary people here. Not unless you counted Gladio. He probably was the scariest and most dangerous looking person in the neighborhood. What was her dad thinking?

Rinoa took off her coat and hung it up in the closet before kicking off her shoes and throwing her keys on the ground. She trudged angrily over to her couch and flopped down onto it. Her mind was swirling with thoughts. None of them were good.

Her dad was not respecting that she was an independent adult woman who could make her own decisions. She didn't need a man to look out for her. But if she decided that she'd like a man to look out for her, she'd prefer it would NOT be her giant hulking cousin. She'd much prefer a handsome and caring boyfriend. One who would care for her, but also respect her independence. She tucked her knees up fully onto the couch and hugged her legs. She felt like her dad was watching her every move, but at least she was safe in her nice small and quiet apartment.

Suddenly loud rock music started blaring through the wall. She could feel the bass reverberate through her chest.

"Is this too loud for you?" Gladio yelled through the wall. "Should I turn it down?"

Of course the walls were paper thin. It sounded like he was nearly in the room with her.

She sighed to herself and grabbed at her temples.

 _When is this going to end? He better not show up tomorrow at my workplace as the new warehouse guy. I better call Caraway._

End of chapter

* * *

Author's notes: I hope you are loving Gladio in this as much as I am. I had a lot of fun with this chapter. Please read and review.


	11. Chapter 11: Luxury Car

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

* * *

Rinoa stomped around her apartment barely missing Angelo's wagging tale.

"What are you thinking?" Rinoa demanded over her phone while her breathing became shaky.

"Who is this?" a smooth and deep voice answered. He knew exactly who it was. And it didn't take a top Galbadian general to figure out what this phone call was going to be about.

"You know who this is!" she said in the phone louder than she meant to. She wanted to yell, but she was trying to be civil. "I know you're worried about me, but this is _too far_ ," Rinoa said while pacing through her apartment. She wanted to keep quiet so Gladio wouldn't hear their conversation through the shared apartment wall. Not that General Caraway wouldn't share the relevant details with him later. "He's, he's..." Rinoa started, but she didn't know how to end the sentence.

"Gladiolus?" Caraway asked.

"Yes!" Rinoa said breathlessly like she'd just run a mile uphill. She went silent and tried to calm herself while she waited for her father to explain. She wanted him to say something to make her feel less intruded upon. Less like a little girl who needed a babysitter. The silence wasn't complete. Gladio was still playing rock music very loudly and it was going right through the apartment wall. She could feel the bass reverberating through her stomach, adding to her general feelings of queasiness.

"After you decided to leave Galbadia for the sunny shores of Balamb," her father began, "Gladiolus was inspired by your sudden streak of independence. He wanted to follow in your footsteps." She could hear a long exhale. He was probably smoking a cigar in his study again. The entire room was permeated by the aromatic and spicy smoke. Even thousands of miles away she felt like she could smell it. "You should be flattered." He paused and exhaled again. "You're a trendsetter."

Ha! Gladio wanted to follow Rinoa's lead? She doubted that Gladio would have nothing better to do with his life than to follow Rinoa's attempts to assert her independence. Maybe he'd get a job as a receptionist too. Maybe they'd become best friends. They were just two twenty-somethings trying to find their way in the world. They were just figuring out life while having fun. They could start a book club, lifestyle blog, or a cupcake cafe while they were at it too. Yea right.

"He wanted to follow in my footsteps?" Rinoa asked. "More likely that he was _ordered_ to follow me," she said while her voice rose again. Gladio was much more likely to follow orders from the general than to go on a life-finding quest on a new continent.

Caraway let out a heavy sigh. His voice sounded old and tired. "It wouldn't hurt to have a familiar face in town, Rinoa. It's a hard world out there. You can never have too many allies." He hated how often he fought with his little girl. Didn't she realize he was just trying to protect her?

"Allies? I'm not at war here," Rinoa said. "I'm just trying to be normal. I'm trying to have a normal job."

"Couldn't you have been normal here?" Caraway asked. "Here?" he repeated with exasperation evident in his voice. The implication that he meant here where I can easily keep an eye on you was heavy in the air. This was a turn of conversation they'd had many times before.

"I wanted to do it on my own," Rinoa said. "I _can_ do it on my own," she said with false confidence.

 _Or I can at least try_ , she thought.

"You can do it on your own," Caraway said. Rinoa lifted her dark eyebrows in shock. "With Gladio nearby," he added. "We'll keep in touch," he said while abruptly ending the call.

Rinoa threw her phone down on her couch. Frustration was bubbling up through her throat and felt like it was choking her. It left a taste in her mouth, and it tasted bad.

"Blech," Rinoa said to nobody but her dog and mostly empty apartment. Angelo lifted her doggy head and stared directly into Rinoa's eyes. Brown eyes met brown eyes. She felt like the dog knew her distress and was sympathetic. They had a strong bond. They understood each other on a deep and emotional level.

Rinoa really needed some human friends.

Her stomach growled.

And she needed some food too.

She hurried to the kitchen and threw open the freezer door in search of comfort. She eyed a half empty carton of vanilla chocolate swirl ice cream. It wouldn't soothe her like a friend would, but that was all she had at the moment. And that was something. She reached in and grabbed it before she sought out a spoon. She was low on friends at the moment, but at least she had some spoons in her apartment. Somewhere. She stuck her hand into a kitchen drawer and started pushing cutlery around, trying to unearth a spoon. She'd add buying a utensil sorter to her to-do list. After a few moments of digging around in her messy drawer, she found a clean spoon. Success. Her imaginary to-do list was once again forgotten.

She trudged over to her couch and plopped down with her ice cream. She dug in and took a big scoop up to her face. It towered precariously on her relatively tiny spoon as it was nearly the size of an ice cream cone scoop. It looked like the rest of the ice cream carton was going to become her dinner. She started licking the ice cream, avoiding the vanilla swirls and going straight for the chocolate. This was an emotional emergency, and vanilla, although nice, wasn't going to cut it.

 _Too bad this is just vanilla chocolate swirl, and not triple chocolate, chocolate chunk,_ Rinoa thought to herself. _Maybe I have a chocolate bar in the pantry I could add to this._ She didn't. She'd eaten it up the other day, but she'd forgotten about it.

The creamy chocolate ice cream melted on her tongue. She savored the sweet smoothness for a second before going for another lick. Her mind momentarily cleared while she shut her eyes and smiled to herself. This was a nice distraction. Her tense shoulders started to relax as she continued to eat. Everything was going to be fine. She'd try to remember to get more ice cream the next time she went to the grocery store. She was running out of her "staples." Her staples being chocolate, chocolate ice cream, and maybe some real food to make a meal. She had to eat a balanced diet, right?

"Hey, what do you do around here for dinner?" Gladio called through the wall, startling Rinoa and causing the big scoop of ice cream to fall off her spoon and plop right into her lap. She stared in shock and horror at the cold and wet ice cream scoop that was quickly soaking into her pant leg.

Rinoa blinked. There was a sticky chocolate puddle forming on her leg. She wanted to scream. She wanted to jump off the couch. She wanted to go somewhere, anywhere just to get away from this. But she didn't have any other place to go other than work. And she couldn't go there until the next morning.

She couldn't believe she was looking forward to going back to her boring job.

"Hey, can you hear me or not?" Gladio called again. He knocked on the wall twice to see if she'd respond. "Hey?" Another knock.

Instead of a scream, a small whimper escaped her chocolate smeared lips.

* * *

Rinoa wrapped her coat around herself tighter and kept her head down. She just wanted to get to work without any trouble. A black and glossy car had been following her all the way from her apartment to the bus stop, then it followed the bus until she got off, and then it had been following her during her last walk to her workplace. It was disconcerting to say the least. If she didn't know who was doing it, she would have called the police.

The car edged nearer to her, breaking from its steady and sluggish pace. The motor rumbled quietly, but she didn't turn to look. Anger boiled up inside of her, readying itself to break free.

"Hey, I would've given you a ride," Gladio called, not deterred by her purposeful ignoring of him. He figured Rinoa would be like this. Her father had always referred to her as 'difficult.' Gladio didn't know if that was a fair assessment, but he wasn't about to go up against General Caraway. He was a high ranking and respected military man. Gladio also didn't really know Rinoa on a personal level. They'd never been particularly close, but he didn't know why she would be 'difficult.' Her father had rank, connections, and money. Rinoa could have used all of that to her advantage happily. He didn't know why she was wasting away in a little place like Balamb.

"I didn't need a ride," Rinoa answered with her face scrunched up in anger as she turned towards him finally. "I've got a bus pass." She hoped she wouldn't cry angry tears on her way to work.

Gladio snorted when she said bus pass. "Okay princess."

Rinoa bristled at being called 'princess.' It wasn't that she was against the concept of princesses. Actually she'd grown up loving fairy tales and princesses when she was little. She'd loved the imaginative magic, dashing adventure, and fated romance. Not to mention dressing up in frilly pink dresses and plastic tiaras. But that was before her safe and happy home life had rotted away and she discovered that 'happily-ever-afters' were just for fictional people in storybooks.

And to be honest, she knew that when people called her 'princess,' they were really meaning, 'spoiled brat.' That was an image she was trying to shed. She was trying to make an new image for herself. A new life as an independent young woman.

Yes, fairytale princesses were just a phase that she'd grown out of a long time ago. Mostly. She still indulged in some sappy romances from time to time. And she still loved pink, it filled her with a feeling of uncomplicated happiness, but nobody needed to know that. She was a tough girl. She wore blue clothes and black combat boots sometimes. Tough.

"I'm going to work now," she said growled in her imitation of a punk rocker while gesturing in the direction in front of her. She was done with Gladio, and she hoped he was done with her too.

Gladio rolled his window up halfway.

 _Please go away. Please go away,_ she hoped in a high pitched mental scream.

"So you stay there. Don't follow me inside," she added out loud in a gruff voice.

 _Would he follow me inside?_ She thought in a panic.

"But of course, I won't follow you inside," Gladio said while finishing rolling up the window. Her stomach felt sick with hope for a long lingering moment before she saw Gladio and his monstrously fancy beast of a car drive away.

Rinoa let out a sigh of relief, but she kept her eyes trained on the black car until it disappeared down the next street. She hoped nobody had seen that. She didn't want anybody to know that her dad was paying her cousin to keep tabs on her.

This was all Caraway's fault.

Why did her dad treat her like a toddler?

Why?

Why?

Why?

She stomped her foot in irritation and wanted to cry.

* * *

Squall looked out the window again. It was 8:55 am and he had been keeping an eye out for Rinoa's arrival with mixed emotions. He wanted to see her because she livened his boring life. He wanted to see her because she was attractive. He wanted to see her because he was afraid that big burly man she called Angelo might have killed her over the weekend. That wasn't entirely likely, but he had seen police procedural shows before. That type of scenario wasn't unheard of. Domestic violence was a real threat to women.

But maybe he just wanted to see her fresh face and hear her sweet voice. He just wanted to forget that she was dating that rough and brawny man he'd seen in the park over the weekend. That guy was like a tattooed side of beef that was wearing pants.

He sat up straighter with a sudden thought. Maybe she'd dumped him over the weekend!

While he contemplated the probability of that having happened over the weekend, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and he turned to investigate. Rinoa was marching towards the building with her shoulders hunched together. A black car was following her. Squall didn't recognize the make or model of the car, but it looked foreign and expensive. Maybe it was even a custom, one-of-a-kind sort of car. Who would have a car like that in Balamb?

The driver's side window rolled down and he saw a shadowy figure within. Rinoa turned around abruptly and started arguing with the person. Squall squinted and he thought he could see somebody that looked like Angelo inside. At least he imagined that it could be Angelo.

If that was Angelo, it didn't seem that Rinoa was happy that he'd followed her to work. Maybe their relationship was on the rocks. But a negative to this could be that Rinoa was in danger. He hoped this guy didn't turn out to be a stalker or a homicidal maniac.

Squall saw Rinoa relax and turn back towards the building. The black car started driving away. Maybe Squall just had a very overactive imagination. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe that wasn't even Angelo in there, he didn't get a very close look at the person. Maybe somebody was just asking for directions and Rinoa was in a bad mood. Maybe she had a headache.

He always remembered his mother telling his father that she had a headache. It must be a mysterious women's thing that he was lucky to not be plagued by.

"Tsk, would you look at that car," Seifer said suddenly making Squall jump up in his seat slightly. Seifer was also drawn in by the unusual custom car that Squall was seeing. "What do you think a guy like that is trying to prove?" He walked over to where Squall was, unperturbed by his co-worker's lack of conversational skills. "I have more money than brains," Seifer said in an exaggerated voice. He became quiet for a few moments before saying, "Overcompensating for something," Seifer said with world weary finality that was topped off by a rude hand gesture.

Squall certainly hoped so.

The front door creaked open and loud clomping footsteps cascaded down the hallway.

"Ugh," Rinoa huffed as she threw down her tote bag next to her receptionist desk.

Seifer sauntered over to where Rinoa was angrily unwinding her scarf and wiggling out of her coat.

"And what's your problem this morning, Miss Receptionist?" Seifer asked.

She turned towards his face and was about to say something witty and snarky, except she couldn't think of anything. Her mouth just hung open while her brows knit together angrily.

"Did you almost get run over by the luxury behemoth-mobile out there?" Seifer asked.

"What!?" Rinoa asked in alarm while dropping her scarf on the floor. She'd hoped nobody had seen her outside with Gladio and that ostentatious car.

"Who in Balamb would have a car like that anyway?" Seifer asked, not waiting for Rinoa's reply. "It looked custom made, or at least so foreign I'd never seen it before. And I bet it was expensive. Maybe the guy who drives it is having a midlife crisis. Although he'd have to be a king to own a car like that. Or at least a mobster."

"Uh..." Rinoa said.

Seifer narrowed his eyes at her. "You were just outside Miss Receptionist. There is no way you didn't see it," Seifer said in disbelief. "The hubcaps themselves looked more expensive than Dincht's entire car."

"What'd you say about my car!?" Zell yelled from down the hall.

"I'm just discussing the strange luxury car that went by here, Dincht. Try to keep up, will you?"

Zell jogged into the main work area and approached one of the many windows that lined the front wall of the office. He stood up on his tiptoes and looked up and down the street. "Why didn't anybody call me?" he asked.

"It went by too fast," Seifer said. "But I'll immediately let you know if I see again." Seifer slicked his hair back with his hand. "Or not."

"You're just making this mystery car up," Zell complained. "I bet there wasn't anything out there at all. You just want to waste my time."

"Ask her," Seifer said. "She was right out there." He pointed straight at Rinoa.

Zell turned towards Rinoa. "Did you see it?" he asked cautiously, one eyebrow raising slightly.

Rinoa swallowed.

"I saw it," Squall said from the safety of his cubicle, breaking the tension that was building in the office. "It was just a car."

Rinoa let out a small breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Zell jogged over to Squall. "Was a mobster driving it?" Zell asked with interest.

"I didn't see who was in it," Squall answered. "It was just an expensive looking black car."

Squall wondered why Rinoa wouldn't say that she'd spoken with the person in the car. Was she a private person or was she hiding something?

"What is all this talk about mobsters?" Quistis asked as she strode into the office. She may have been the manager, but she was not immune to curiosity. "Are there dangerous looking people outside our building?" She felt personally responsible for the employees under her care.

"Irvine, maybe you should walk me to my car when work gets out," Selphie said.

"Sure thing honey buns," Irvine responded. "I always keep an eye out for all the little ladies."

"Never mind," Selphie said, "I'll take my chances with the mystery mobster man." She walked towards Rinoa's desk. "Or I can walk out in the parking lot with Rinoa after work. Safety in numbers."

"Are you all joking, or should I be worried?" Quistis asked in a stern tone while crossing her arms.

"It was just a car," Squall repeated.

"Maybe we should ALL walk out into the parking lot together after work," Selphie suggested. "Then we could caravan to some place and get some dinner. I haven't been to Applebee's in a long time. Who's with me?" She shook her fist in the air with a hearty enthusiasm that nobody responded to.

"Just a car," Squall said to nobody. Hoping it was true. Hoping Rinoa wasn't hiding something sinister. Hoping Rinoa was alright.

The office phone started ringing, signally that the workweek had officially started. Rinoa answered the phone while her coworkers chatted curiously in her midst.

"You still doing okay?" Gladio asked over the phone.

Rinoa slammed the phone down immediately.

* * *

Author's notes: Please read and review. I've been in a creative slump. Maybe some positive encouragement would help. Thanks.


	12. Chapter 12: Hot Dog Hero

(Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or its characters. This is just for fun.)

Chapter 12: Hot Dog Hero

* * *

Rinoa poked at her sandwich and some more dark jam oozed out over her already sticky fingers. She stared at the misshapen and sloppy sandwich and sighed. It wasn't her best effort. It was a mess, and she was surprised at herself. How could anybody mess up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?

This was Gladio's fault.

No, he hadn't made the sandwich for her, but her lunch making that morning had been rage fueled. And that WAS his fault. She couldn't believe her cousin Gladio had moved in next door at her father's bidding. Did everybody think she was a child?

She took another tiny bite of her sandwich. Peanut butter and blackberry jam smeared across her cheek. She chewed angrily. The sandwich was smooshed and it had uneven filling. It was very unappealing. And it was served in a little plastic baggie, which didn't help either. The whole thing was both wet and dry at the same time. She never knew what the next bite would hold. It seemed flavorless, but maybe that was because she could barely muster up enough enthusiasm to finish it.

Thinking of Gladio was sapping her appetite. Her jaws clenched together at every bite with more force than necessary.

Maybe more appetizing food could lift her foul mood. Maybe she could bring in something for lunch that she could microwave. She could bring in something that would send its aroma throughout the office, inflicting her lunch choice upon everybody else's senses, because apparently people were okay with that here. She'd already had to deal with a certain coworker who loved to bring in his leftover Balamb fish and stink up the entire office.

Or maybe she should just try going out to eat more often. Although who knew if she'd run into Gladio at lunchtime. If she stayed in this break room, she was relatively safe from Gladio, and by extension, her father.

She looked over at Zell, who was eating several hot dogs with abandon. Little snorts and grunts of happiness would come out of him every few seconds. Now there was a person who knew how to make a lunch he'd enjoy. He'd unpacked his lunch and microwaved it until it was very hot. Then he'd taken it out and set it down at the little table where she was eating with Selphie. Now the entire break room smelled steamy, meaty, and hot doggy. It was like a hot dog sauna in there.

Needless to say, it didn't go very well with her lackluster smooshed and lumpy peanut butter and blackberry jam sandwich. She set her sandwich down on her plastic baggie and sighed.

Zell turned towards her and said, "Hey, wanna bite? It's great." He clearly meant what he said by the bright expression in his baby blue eyes. He wanted to share the wealth.

Rinoa looked at the half eaten hot dog in Zell's fist. It was gnawed meat dripping with mustard. She was touched by his intended generosity, but each bite mark was wet with saliva. She'd never had half-eaten food, and she didn't think she was going to start now. But it was the thought that counted.

"No, I'm fine," Rinoa responded was a small polite smile.

"Hey, do you want one of my cookies?" Selphie asked her. She leaned towards Rinoa and pushed her little sunflower themed retro lunch box closer to her.

"No thanks," Rinoa said to Selphie, who kept nibbling on her package of mini cookies like a chipmunk. She'd been taking tiny bites out of each mini cookie like it was normal sized. It was taking her a long time to finish them.

Selphie reached out and dropped a small envelope in front of Rinoa. It plopped down by her lunch bag unceremoniously. For a second Rinoa didn't know if it was meant for her.

"Go on, open it up," Selphie said coolly while continuing to eat. Rinoa reached for it, but Selphie spoiled the surprise suddenly "It's a party invitation," she blurted out. She started to smile and dropped her indifferent attitude. "Don't bother RSVPing. It's a party being held in your honor. So you HAVE to come."

"Uh, what?" Rinoa asked while peering down at the pastel colored envelope. It wasn't her birthday. Why would a near stranger give her a party? "Okay?" she said.

"Great!" Selphie said while settling back into her lunch with a renewed industriousness. It was going to take her forever to finish it if she kept taking tiny bites. But she couldn't imagine not taking tiny bites when she was eating tiny food.

"Hey Rinoa, don't let her distract you from your lunch. Food is important," Zell said. "Gotta keep your strength up Rin," he said while stuffing an overlarge bite of hot dog into his open mouth. He started chewing happily, but it suddenly looked like he had bitten off too much to chew. His eyes bulged and watered. He kept chewing and struggled to keep the hot dog in his mouth, not wanting to waste a precious bite of hot dog goodness.

That would be his downfall.

He went from struggling to keep the food in his mouth to struggling to get it out of his mouth. Soon muffled sounds came out of him.

"Zell, are you okay? Are you choking?" Rinoa asked with concern. She dropped the invitation and pushed her food away from herself.

Zell's face started turning red and his eyes watered. He looked pleadingly at Rinoa and then Selphie.

"He's fine." Selphie said while looking down at her lunch. She picked up another raspberry and popped it into her mouth before continuing. "He always looking like that when he's eating." She didn't bother looking up at him once as she individually examined each raspberry.

Rinoa looked at Zell while he kept pointing at his throat and making gurgling noises.

"No Selphie, I think he's actually choking!" Rinoa said, starting to panic.

Selphie stopped eating her lunch and took a careful look at him. "AAAAAAH!" she screamed. "He's totally choking! What-do-we-do-what-do-we-do? HELP! HELP!" she screamed while she jumped up and clapped her hands together.

Rinoa popped up from her seat and stuck her head down the hallway. "HELP! Somebody help us! Zell is choking!" She gripped the door frame tightly and looked back at Zell. He was in obvious distress. Selphie had gone over to him and started hitting him on the back as hard as she could. The food wasn't becoming dislodged. Selphie's hitting only seemed to hurt him. Rinoa kept yelling for someone.

As each second without help stretched, Rinoa thought that maybe she should take a first aid course in addition to taking a self defense course. She'd add it to her growing to-do list for the new responsible adult woman she was trying to become. She should check out the local community center for classes. But even if she signed up for a class later today, that wasn't going to help Zell right now.

She yelled for help again.

Within moments Seifer came running down the hall. Seifer wasn't Rinoa's favorite person, but she smiled when she saw that help was on the way. Maybe Seifer would know what to do. He barged into the break room with a smirk on his face and skidded to a sudden stop. His leather bottomed shoes squeaked on the worn break room linoleum.

"Ha, Dincht is gonna die!" Seifer laughed. Rinoa's eyebrows shot up off her head in disbelief at Seifer's callous attitude. "Killed off by his legendary love of hot dogs," Seifer said seriously this time. "A fitting end." He nodded.

This was not helping.

"That's not funny!" Rinoa yelled at him. "He needs help. HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" she cried down the hallway. The situation was escalating quickly. Where was Quistis? She seemed to be the most competent person in the office, but she was often unavailable.

Rinoa ran to grab the phone off the wall and started dialing 911 herself. Her sticky and shaking fingers mashed the buttons, but the phone call wasn't going through. Maybe she dialed incorrectly in her hurry. She hung it up and dialed again, more slowly this time.

Wait, did she have to dial out first before dialing 911? She was panicking and couldn't remember. Did she have to hit 9 first, or was it 1? She was the receptionist. This was something she should know! She continued to try.

* * *

Squall heard Selphie's screams from down the hall. He didn't catch what was being said, but he noticed that Seifer had gotten out of his seat and bolted out of his cubicle.

While Squall was wondering what all the commotion was about, he heard Rinoa's raised voice screaming for help. For some reason he imagined her badly hurt from a lunchtime mishap. That didn't seem likely and he wasn't sure how she'd even do that, but he worried anyway. Maybe she'd cut herself while slicing a bagel and needed him to drive her to a doctor. He could help wrap the wound and reassure her while on the way to the emergency room. He'd stay by her side as the doctors and nurses did their work. Then he could take her home for the day and stay for a while to make sure she was okay.

Wait, what if it was worse than that? Squall's imagination sprang to life again and his heart lurched in his chest. He could just see that huge leather clad muscle man, 'Angelo' showing up at Rinoa's workplace unannounced. That seemed like a jerk 'marking his territory' sort of move that a guy like that would do. Maybe Rinoa had told him not to come, but he showed up anyways. Maybe he was hassling her right now in the break room because she'd tried to end their relationship. Again. She'd looked hostile towards him before. There was trouble brewing, surely.

He heard another call for help.

Wait, what was he still doing sitting in his office chair? Maybe Rinoa needed Squall's help right now! He didn't know what he could do, but he'd figure it out on the way. He jumped up and ran down the hallway after Seifer, leaving his office chair spinning behind him.

Squall's shoes padded down the worn high traffic carpet as he neared the break room. A multitude of possible scenarios flitting through his mind in an energetic frenzy. Which one would confront him when he got there?

When he got into the break room he didn't see anything he'd imagined. There was no hulking Angelo or a bleeding Rinoa next to a partially cut bagel. He just saw Zell choking with Selphie hitting his back. That wasn't a rare sight in Squall's opinion. He noticed that Seifer stood by laughing while Rinoa had tears forming in her eyes while she held onto a phone. Squall was relieved that Rinoa was okay and that Angelo was nowhere to be found, but he quickly assessed the situation. It looked more serious than normal. Zell's face was turning colors now. He needed help, and fast. He could worry about Angelo later.

Squall swiftly pushed past Seifer, more roughly than needed, to get to Zell. He made Zell stand up. Selphie quickly stepped aside. Squall wrapped his arms around Zell's torso and made a fist. He firmly pressed his fist into Zell's abdomen with a quick upward thrust. Despite Squall's efforts, Zell continued to choke.

The adrenaline was thrumming through Squall's veins. All he could hear were little screams and Seifer's jack-ass laugh. He kept working on Zell with all of his strength. It was frantic and it felt like time had slowed down.

Suddenly he heard a wet sound as Zell expelled a chewed up piece of hot dog. It went flying, seemingly in slow motion, and cart wheeled through the air before it finally landed on Seifer's neatly polished leather shoes.

Squall hadn't been aiming, but if he had, he wouldn't have been able to get a better target.

"Damn!" Seifer exclaimed while kicking it off his foot. The food chunk went skidding across the linoleum floor and came to rest beneath the legs of the break room table.

The room was silent except for Zell's heaving gasps.

Selphie stared at Squall in wonder. Her mouth hung open. "That was super duper awesome!" She started slow clapping for him. Clap. Clap. Clap. The loud sound rang echoed in the bare room.

Nobody joined her.

"Oh!" Rinoa exclaimed, breathless from terror. She dropped the phone and quickly turned her thoughts to Zell. "Zell are you alright?" Rinoa asked while running to his side. She patted him gently on his back.

Zell nodded his head while gulping down fresh air. A big smile of relief spread over his face. "Thanks man, I owe you," he said to Squall. He tried to shake his hand, but Squall resisted. Zell slapped him on the back instead.

Rinoa turned to look up at Squall. "Thank you so much." She clutched at her chest. "How'd you know how to do that?" she asked.

Squall pointed to the worn and dusty poster on the wall that described how to aid a choking person. It came with simple to follow graphics. Hadn't anybody heard of the Heimlich Maneuver? And more importantly, couldn't anybody here read and follow directions?

"Is that new?" Selphie asked while pointing towards it. "I don't think I've ever seen that before."

New? Squall couldn't believe that. Were people here not very observant of their surroundings?

"That poster has been hanging there for as long as I've worked here," Squall said. He was pretty sure workplaces were required to display these sorts of emergency posters in break areas. Hadn't anybody else ever noticed it? It was clearly old. It had faded colors and curled up edges.

Irvine suddenly appeared at the doorway. "Hey guys, I just got out of the bathroom and I heard all this screaming. I was wondering where y'all went to. What's goin' on here?"

"Hey Irvy, guess what?" Selphie asked while spinning around. "Squall saved the day. Squall is a hero! A HERO!" She tried to slow clap again, but it didn't catch on.

* * *

Squall sat back at his desk, pretending to work. The office had calmed down in the afternoon after Zell's near death experience, but Squall was filled with excitement and energy still. It wasn't every day that he had an adrenaline rush at work, although it was becoming more and more common lately.

He shook his hair out of his eyes while typing and raised his eyebrows in astonishment. He couldn't believe that all of those boring lunch breaks where he'd done nothing but stare at that old emergency poster had actually come in handy. He had the graphics on that stupid poster memorized. He never figured he would use that knowledge someday. He mostly had stared at it to avoid looking at any of his coworkers and avoid conversations. He'd stare at it and pretend like he was deep in thought about something important and work related. A slight look of annoyance made him look serious and productive. It was a fabrication of course, but nobody else knew that. It put up a wall around himself so he could be alone and unbothered.

What if he didn't want to wall himself off anymore?

Squall thought of Rinoa. He tried not to smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched, aching to betray his feelings. He couldn't help but puff up with pride at the look Rinoa had given him in the break room. Her eyes were gleaming with joy. She looked at him like he was some kind of heroic knight in a fairytale when he'd expelled that disgusting little piece of hot dog from Zell's throat. Magical.

He would die if anybody knew how much her look pleased him, but his heart swelled at it anyways. Selphie had insisted that he was a hero, but he could write that off as one of her many exaggerations. But the look on Rinoa's face couldn't be explained away so easily. Rinoa was proud of his actions and his cool-headedness under pressure. He felt foolish, but her look did make him feel like a hero.

Squall Leonhart. Hero. He liked the sound of it.

Squall shook his head and snapped out of it. This wasn't a fairytale. He wasn't a knight and Zell certainly wasn't a princess or damsel in distress.

He mentally congratulated himself on helping his fellow coworker and decided to stop thinking of it from this point forward. He had work to do. Heroics were no longer required of him.

But he couldn't help but fondly remember the relief on Rinoa's sweet face. She'd certainly seemed much more at ease and happy to see him than she had when she'd been with Angelo in the park. Maybe Squall was her type of guy. Maybe they were a match. He smiled to himself and continued to type.

His eyes flicked to the small invitation that had been placed on his desk earlier in the afternoon. Selphie's flowing handwriting had crossed out Squall's name and had rewritten "HERO" on his invitation in large upper case letters. A small trail of glitter had leaked out of the tiny envelope. Normally that would have annoyed him, but today was special. Weeks from now, when he would still be finding trace amounts of glitter in his work space, he'd be reminded of today with a smile.

He reached out and opened the invitation again. He glanced at the glittery embossed words complete with pastel colored graphics of rounded balloons and multi colored confetti.

"First Month Anniversary Party for Rinoa Heartilly!"

He looked over at the address he presumed was Selphie's home. It was next weekend.

"Be there or be square," she added at the end with a flourish of a gel pen.

He normally wouldn't think of going to something like this. He wouldn't give it a moment's thought. But normal wasn't happening anymore. He felt like he was in some kind of strange parallel universe where he could be a whole new person. He tapped his fingertips on his desktop.

Maybe. Maybe he could go.

* * *

Author's notes: Siobhane came up with the idea for this chapter. She thought it would be funny if Zell choked and Selphie started freaking out... and the rest wrote itself.


	13. Chapter 13: Selphie's Party

Rinoa ran up the steps to the apartment building's front door, trying to be on time. As she climbed upwards, one of the stone steps wobbled. It lifted out of the cracked mortar and she started to fall. Her heart raced for a moment before she caught herself from toppling over into the bushes near the door.

Phew.

Falling down stone steps face first would have been bad. She could just imagine showing up at a party being thrown in her honor and breaking something the very second she arrived.

But she was okay now. All she had to do was figure out which apartment was Selphie's.

She turned to her right and looked at a metal panel covered in buttons with faded names and apartment numbers. It was a multistoried apartment building, so there were a lot of buttons. Which one was Selphie's? It was hard to read any of the buttons, but a yellow smiley face sticker was stuck on one. That seemed like a Selphie thing to do. And the blurred name next to it could have said, 'Tilmitt.'

Rinoa decided to give it a try, so she pressed the button. The speaker buzzed to life so loudly she jumped as if she'd been electrocuted. A crackle and something inaudible blared out before the door was automatically unlocked.

She entered the door and climbed the stairs, readying herself for the party amongst the near strangers who were her co-workers. It would be fine, she assured herself as she neared her destination. She needed friends in Balamb. She _wanted_ friends in Balamb. She assumed she'd found the right place when she saw a colorful sign that said, 'Party Time,' taped to the door. The door was ajar, so she gently pushed it open.

"Welcome to my apartment!" Selphie said as Rinoa opened the door. Her voice sounded like it had been somewhat breathless in anticipation. She quickly ran over to Rinoa to steer her further into the apartment, not allowing Rinoa a moment to take in her surroundings first.

Rinoa looked around quickly as Selphie continued her greeting. It was a simple two bedroom apartment decorated in warm and bright colors and light wood. Pretty, but generic wall hangings and prints decorated the walls, giving a cheerful atmosphere despite the mass produced nature of the decorations. Everything went well together. Rinoa figured that Selphie must have picked out all her furniture and furnishing during the same shopping trip. A hint of vanilla hung in the air. Rinoa couldn't tell if it was something edible or just a room fragrance.

"Here's the guest of honor," Selphie said while grabbing Rinoa by the shoulders and turning her towards Quistis.

Quistis gave Rinoa a warm smile while giving her a quick greeting.

"Uh, hi," Rinoa responded.

Rinoa noted that Quistis was the only other person at this party, at least so far. Three people didn't feel like a party. Rinoa had always heard that three was a crowd. It didn't feel crowded in there, at least not with people. It was certainly crowded enough with decorations and balloons. Bundles of balloons were bunched up in the corners of the room and there was a card table full of party snacks and drinks. Streamers hung in every door frame.

"Is this everybody?" Rinoa asked. The balloons and streamers felt like overkill for just the three of them. Was it a ladies only party?

"Oh, I invited everybody from our section of the office," Selphie said. "Most people will come." She took a pause. "Except for Squall. He never comes to anything unless he has to."

Quistis shook her head. "Why did you even invite him to a party _outside of work_?" She asked this as if Squall would even attend a break room party AT work. He hadn't ever done that before. She wasn't even sure if he'd ever snuck in there later to get a piece of leftover cake. Quistis felt that Selphie's invitation to Squall was a waste of time. Squall Leonhart was a lost cause to the realm of social interaction. He was a fine worker and completely reliable, so she didn't complain about his lack of team spirit.

"I know he won't come," Selphie said while pointing to herself. "YOU know he won't come," she said while pointing towards Quistis. "WE all know that," she said while twirling her pointer finger in the air. "But everybody likes to be included, even shy and weird people. And I want him to know that he's welcome." Selphie nodded her head strongly. "So he's invited even if he's a perpetual party pooper and there is absolutely _no way_ he's going to show up tonight." She laughed while walking over the card table and started straightening things that were already straight.

"I'm going to get a glass of water," Quistis said while leaving the room, in search of the kitchen.

"But there's some punch and soda over here," Selphie called after her. "And the punch is super dee-licious!" she said while straining her neck towards where Quistis had walked. "It's a Selphie special recipe!"

While Selphie busied herself with making sure all the decorations were still neat, Rinoa walked over to look at one of the framed photos on Selphie's wall. It looked like a close-up of several sunflowers in full sunlight. It was one of the few decorations that didn't look generic and store-bought. Rinoa wondered if Selphie took it herself. Was she interested in photography?

Fully saturated yellows, oranges, and browns reflected off one another harmoniously. Rinoa could practically feel the warmth of the summer day while looking at it.

Selphie walked up behind Rinoa as she studied the photo. "Hey Rinoa, I'm looking for a roommate if you need one," she said while tapping her on the shoulder. Rinoa turned around to face her. She didn't even know if she wanted to stay in Balamb for longer than a short while. She tried to think of something polite yet noncommittal. But she didn't get the chance because Selphie spoke again quickly. She was clearly enthused at the idea of Rinoa being a roommate. "Why don't you go in and check out my bedrooms," Selphie said while motioning towards the back of her apartment. "Lots of room here. Spacious and bright."

Selphie's intercom buzzed again. Angry crackling sounds invaded the apartment.

"More guests!" she exclaimed while running to her door. She rang to buzz them in. They couldn't tell who it was because the intercom was just as inaudible in Selphie's apartment as it was downstairs.

"Seriously, Rinoa, go check out my bedrooms," Selphie said while shooing her with her hands. "Get a feel for the place. We could totally be roommates if you want. It'll save us some money on rent, and it'd be so much fun too. Just give it some thought." Selphie turned towards her door while adding, "I doubt you're making that much as a receptionist."

Rinoa shoulders tensed as she bristled at the last comment, but she just nodded her head and started wandering around Selphie's apartment to appease her quest for a new roommate. It wouldn't hurt to look at the bedrooms, and she honestly didn't know what to do with herself at this party. Hiding in a bedroom for a few minutes seemed like a good idea.

Rinoa walked into a bedroom and let the door swing halfway shut behind her. It was quiet and dark, but she didn't bother to flip on the lights. She wished she could be the life of the party and make any little gathering fun naturally, but she was lacking in socializing skills. It wasn't that she wasn't fun or friendly, because she was, but a lifetime of rigid rules living under her father had made it so she'd rarely socialized with people her own age. And now here she was at a party with peers, and she was hiding in a bedroom because she didn't know what to do. She couldn't even blame Caraway for this one. She just had to get out there and practice her friend making skills, even if she wished she could just curl up in the dark bedroom and take a nap. She was good a napping. She had lots of practice with those.

As Rinoa hid in the spare bedroom, Selphie continued to walk to the front of her apartment to open the door for her new guest. When she pulled the door open she hopped backwards from shock. This was the last person she expected to see.

It was Squall.

And it wasn't business-Squall. Selphie was used to that Squall and his crisp button-up white shirts and nicely pressed black pants. It wasn't business-casual-Squall either in his nicely pressed khaki work pants that he wore on Fridays. This was weekend-Squall, and apparently weekend-Squall wore dark jeans and a somewhat clingy long sleeve white v-neck t-shirt. She could even make out some muscle definition on him. Interesting.

Weekend-Squall. How strange. She'd never thought about that sort of Squall before, but now here he was. In her apartment. At her party.

Selphie stared at him some more, unable to stop drinking in the details. She thought he looked younger somehow too. She knew he was about the same age as her, but it hadn't completely registered until now. He'd always had a maturity about him that the others didn't possess. Or maybe it was just the nicely pressed pants that broadcast grown-up adulthood. Now that he was here in jeans and a t-shirt, he had a vulnerability and youthfulness that surprised her. Or maybe it was just that puppy dog expression on his face.

When the heck did Squall ever have a puppy dog expression before? His eyes looked so big and lost.

WAIT! Maybe he was lost! That would explain why he was here. Why else would he be here? Selphie wondered.

 _Why isn't she saying anything?_ Squall thought to himself. Selphie always had something to say before. It seemed the sight of him had rendered her speechless. _Maybe this was a mistake._

While Squall stood there feeling even more awkward than he imagined, he leaned around Selphie to see who else was already at the party. He figured Rinoa had to be there, the party was for her. If he showed up at this party and Rinoa didn't even come, he'd kick his own ass.

"Can I come in?" Squall asked under his breath. He'd leaned forward and towered over Selphie while asking the question. When she didn't immediately respond he flicked out his fingers and flashed her the glittery invitation she'd given him.

Selphie's eyes focused on the invitation. She was slowly regaining her composure from her earlier shock. "Oh yea, right. Welcome," she said while waving him in. She gave him a smile. "Anybody with an invitation is always welcome." She slammed the door behind him with an acceptance and finality.

Squall's shoulders tensed at the sound of the door slam. That was it. He was here. The door was closed. This was really happening.

Now he felt trapped.

He quickly walked towards the corner of her apartment while surveying his surroundings. He was mentally trying to decide where would be the best place to hide or blend in. And that was hard because it didn't seem that people were at the party yet and his somber colored clothes stood out starkly against Selphie's warm and bright color scheme.

He devoted his interest towards a bundle of balloons while turning his back to everyone. Everyone? Actually the only person he'd seen so far was just Selphie.

Squall wished he hadn't been so punctual for once. Being punctual for work was a requirement, but maybe it wasn't the best idea for a party when you didn't know the hostess very well.

Quistis walked back into the room with her glass of water. She saw Squall studying Selphie's balloon bundle and nearly dropped her glass of water onto the carpet. A few drops of water splashed the top of her tightly clenched hand.

"Hello?" she asked towards him. He just turned and nodded his head at her before getting back to standing there, doing nothing other than scrutinizing party decorations. Some balloons had smiley faces on them she could see him noting mentally.

Rinoa exited Selphie's back bedroom. "Nice bedroom Selphie," she said. She noticed another person had arrived at the party. She could see the back of a man. It was no longer a girls only party. Maybe this was going to get interesting.

Squall heard Rinoa's voice and suppressed a smile. He turned and glanced at her briefly before turning towards the wall again. He hoped it looked natural, but his heart was hammering in his chest. He hoped nobody could hear it. Was that possible? He could still feel her eyes on him. Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Uh?" Selphie said as she felt a weird tension in the air. She walked over to her music player to put something on. "What sort of music do you guys like?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter to me," Quistis said while sipping her water.

"Squall, do you have any suggestions?" Selphie turned her head to ask.

"Whatever," Squall rasped out quietly with a tense shrug. He needed to loosen up. Always and forever. Did she have any alcohol at this party? All he saw was soda and some pink colored punch.

Selphie kept smiling, but she had to work to hide her irritation. Did she have to do this whole party for them? Why wasn't anybody helping her?

"Come on guys, help me out a little," Selphie said. Nobody said anything. "If nobody helps me, I'm gonna choose my boy band playlist."

Quistis flinched and Rinoa quickly walked over to where Selphie was sorting through songs.

"I'll help," Rinoa said.

"Ha!" Selphie laughed. "You guys pretend to not like boy bands, but I bet you put on your makeup in the morning while lip synching along with them. Nothing makes a girl feel cuter and more ready to face the day than a bunch of pretty boys singing to her while she's applying eyeliner."

"I'm not that into makeup," Quistis responded.

"I don't believe that," Selphie scoffed. "Your lashline didn't get that dark and luscious on its own. Especially since you're blonde. Or is the blonde hair not natural?"

"I didn't say that I didn't wear makeup, I'm just not very focused on it," Quistis said, ignoring the questioning of her natural hair color.

"Oh, I thought you meant you didn't wear makeup. And that doesn't seem possible. Your skin is too flawless and your eyelashes are too full. We girls can't all be as blessed as Squall over here."

Uh-oh, Squall did not want people focusing on him. Why did Selphie have opinions about his skin and eyelashes anyway? When did this happen? He thought he blended into the background. Did she stare at him when he wasn't aware of it?

Squall felt tense at the attention as he felt 3 sets of smoky kohl lined eyes on him. He suddenly realized he was the only man at this party. Selphie better not suggest putting makeup on him. This wasn't some girly slumber party.

"Why do boys always have the prettiest eyelashes?" Selphie asked while tapping her foot on the carpet. "And they don't even have to do anything to get them to look that way." She took a step towards Squall and she looked up into his face. "It's SO not fair!" She crossed her arms. "Hey Rinoa, come over here. Don't ya think Squall has the best lashline? Seriously, check this out. I don't think I noticed this before. So full and fluffy. I kinda want to touch them." Her fingertips wiggled in the air at her sides.

Was Selphie going to poke him in the eyes? Squall wondered. Is this what people did at parties? Luckily Squall didn't find out because the door buzzed again. More people were arriving.

Saved by the buzz.

Selphie ran to buzz in the new people who were arriving. "And speaking of pretty boys..." she started to say, figuring it must be Zell and Irvine.

Within a minute Zell and Irvine walked into Selphie's apartment, halfway through a fight.

"That was a horrible parking job Irvine!" Zell complained.

"I was in the lines," Irvine said.

"Yea, but you didn't leave room for the guy next to you to get out," Zell said while walking straight to the snack table and ignoring everybody else. He started grabbing food and popping it in his mouth. He was making himself right at home.

"It's not like I parked sideways across multiple handicapped spaces Zell," Irvine said as he tipped his head towards the ladies in the room. His eyes widened when he saw Squall, but he said nothing.

"Well, aim better next time," Zell said to Irvine, starting to chew.

Rinoa had finally picked something to her taste, and piano music started playing in the background. Squall looked over at her and noticed her smiling at her choice. He wouldn't have figured she would like quiet music like that.

"Huh?" Selphie said. "I forgot I even owned instrumental piano music. Nice, but not really a party vibe Rinoa."

Rinoa shrugged at Selphie and dug the tip of her toe into the carpet. "I like piano music. My mom used to play."

"Was she a piano teacher?" Quistis asked with interest, taking another sip of water.

"No," Rinoa said, becoming self conscious about her mom. She reached out and switched the song to some pop music with a faster beat. "But Selphie's right, this isn't exactly party music."

The bass started to reverberate throughout the apartment. Selphie started dancing around while nibbling on a cookie. "Now it's party time!" she called while bopping up and down, her hair bouncing around her face. She shoved the last bit of cookie in her mouth and grabbed Irvine's arms and tried to get him to join her in her aimless but enthusiastic dancing. He shrugged his shoulders and joined in. Even Zell started nodding his head to the beat, all while continuing to eat.

Selphie smiled to herself, seeing that her party for Rinoa was in full swing. People were mingling. Sipping drinks, and straining to hear conversation over pop music that was too loud. Several of her favorite songs got played. Nice. Nothing could ruin the good feeling that was warming her heart.

Plink. Plink. Plink.

"What's that sound?" Selphie asked.

Quistis moved towards the balcony door to investigate. There was another plinking sound. She saw tiny pebbles raining down onto the balcony. Quistis opened up the sliding door and stepped through while the chilly night air wrapped around her. She squinted down to see who was throwing pebbles. "Stop that!" she yelled to the darkness.

"LET. ME. IN." Seifer's voice boomed back.

"Seifer?" Quistis asked.

"Can't anybody hear me ringing the doorbell?" he complained.

"I didn't hear anything," Quistis responded.

"I don't care. Let me in!" he repeated.

"Fine!" she yelled back.

Within a minute Seifer had hurried up to Selphie's apartment to address his complaints directly to the hostess.

"Your door buzzer is broken Tilmitt," Seifer yelled. "Might want to fix that BEFORE your guests arrive."

Selphie didn't like somebody critiquing her party throwing capabilities. She marched up to Seifer, her face right in his chest. He was one of the tallest people she knew.

"It was working before," she protested as he loomed over her. "Maybe YOU broke it!"

Zell grabbed a handful of cocktail wienies and started popping them in his mouth. "I thought you said you were going to have hot dogs at this party." As long as Seifer was addressing his complaints to the hostess, he figured he could too.

"You're eating them right now!" Selphie said while marching over to Zell.

"These aren't hot dogs. Look how tiny they are!" Zell said while holding up a toothpick with a weenie speared on the end. He personally felt the minuscule sausages were a mockery of his beloved, and obviously superior, Balamb-style hot dogs. Actually any hot dog would be superior to these.

"They're CUTE!" Selphie said. "And when you throw a party for us all, you can serve whatever type of hot dog you like!" Her fists balled up at her sides. How dare he show up in her home and criticize her party efforts. Didn't he realize how much time she'd put into making a fun time for her co-workers? And that wasn't taking into account the money she spent for the party. Customer service wasn't the highest paying job in town, and balloons, food, and drinks weren't free. She felt like everybody took her for granted.

"I just said that these AREN'T hot dogs Selphie!" Zell said, his voice raising. "Were you even listening?!"

Her mouth dropped open. "Well, that's not stopping you from eating them," she replied with her nose wrinkling. "Maybe somebody else here would enjoy them." She waved her arm behind her to indicate the other guests.

Zell reached out and started grabbing the remaining cocktail weenies and stuffing them in his mouth. "They make me so angry to look at. I HAVE to destroy the evidence of this travesty." He looked over at her. "And who could enjoy these?"

Selphie's mouth compressed into a thin line and her face turned red and then white. She let out a strangled scream that sounded like it died in her throat. She turned and stormed out of her apartment leaving her guests alone in her home. Rinoa looked after her with concern. Squall stood in the corner of the living room, ignoring the hot dog based fight that had just taken place.

"Uh, do you think she's okay?" Rinoa said while turning to Quistis. Rinoa imagined that Selphie might be crying out in the hallway at that very moment. She didn't know her very well, but maybe she should go out there and say something encouraging. Why wasn't anybody doing anything? Weren't these people her friends?

"Selphie is like that sometimes," Quistis said to the air. "She'll be fine."

Two songs played through and Selphie still hadn't returned. How long was she going to be gone? Was she ever going to come back? Rinoa felt strange to be at a party in somebody else's house when that person had left.

Rinoa was considering going out into the hallway to talk with Selphie when the front door banged open with such force that she jumped. Selphie blew back in through the door and marched in right up to Zell. "Here you go Zell!" she said with a strained voice. Zell spun around and put his arms up to protect his face. He felt certain that she was going to take a swing at him. But she didn't. She quickly stepped to the side and pointed back towards the doorway.

A young woman with a dark braid trailing down her back was standing there sheepishly. She held a paper plate with a plain hot dog on a white bun on it. "Hello?" she said, half greeting, half question. She didn't know what she'd gotten dragged into.

Zell looked up, his eyes widening at the woman. He didn't mean to make Selphie actually get him different food. Selphie's party food was okay. He was just making conversation, didn't she know that? Wasn't that what people did at parties? They made conversation. Chatted. Playful banter.

Had Selphie actually gone out and gotten him a hot dog?

Selphie waved her hand in front of Zell's face to get his attention. "Zell, this is Ami, one of my neighbors. I had to go knocking on several people's doors before I found somebody who was willing to donate a spare hot dog for you... and she was the only person who opened up the door for me."

Ami took a tentative step into Selphie's apartment. A blank expression hung on her face. She looked lost, and she was clearly rethinking the wisdom of coming over to Selphie's party. When Selphie had knocked on her door and asked for a hot dog, she thought she'd meant she needed an entire package of them, not just one single hot dog on a plate. It seemed like a weird request from a neighbor, but she'd heard from her grandma that back when people were more neighborly, it wouldn't be strange to ask to borrow a cup of sugar. She figured there wasn't too much of a difference between a cup of sugar and a hot dog.

It was a good thing for her that she didn't say that out loud to Zell. He might get into another heated hot dog debate tonight, and he had already had one too many of those.

Zell stepped towards Ami, his earlier argumentative feelings melting away. How could he resist a cute girl holding a delicious hot dog just for him?

"Is this for you?" Ami asked with her voice going up a register with the last word.

"Uh yeah," Zell said while taking the paper plate from her. He looked down at what was on the plate and saw that it was just a plain hot dog with a white bun that had been squished in the package. There wasn't even mustard on it or poppy seeds on the bun. It was as plain as it could be. He grabbed the hot dog and took a big bite and started chewing. It was cold. "This is gwreat, thanksh," he said with a smile.

Zell didn't feel bad that he'd riled up Selphie's feelings, she could handle it. But this girl seemed different. He should go over and make her feel welcome.

"So do you like this party?" Zell asked.

"Uh, this is a party?" Ami asked.

"Yea, it's for Rinoa's first anniversary of working at our office," Zell explained. "One whole month baby!" He pumped his fist in the air.

"Happy one month anniversary of being the office receptionist Rinoa!" Selphie yelled. She mimicked Zell's fist pump with one of her own.

Ami tucked some stray strands of dark hair behind her ear. "Uh, okay?" She wondered why that was a party worthy event.

"I propose a toast," Selphie said after swallowing a big gulp of pink punch.. "Let's all go around and say something nice about the best receptionist we've ever had." She quickly turned off the music.

Silence.

Rinoa's face reddened. This was so awkward. Nobody said anything. The only sound was Selphie's foot impatiently tapping on the floor.

"Should I go first?" Rinoa asked.

"NO!" Selphie said. She glared at everybody, willing them to start showering niceties on Rinoa.

"She's lasted a month," Zell said, still chewing his hot dog. "Wow! Good job!"

"Hey, I was gonna say that," Irvine said while sipping some pink punch. "You took my idea. That counts as mine too."

"No it doesn't Irvine," Selphie responded. "You have to come up with a new idea." She turned towards Zell and said, "And we all know she lasted a month. That was in the invitation. You have to come up with something else too." More glaring.

Quistis sighed and decided to take the lead with this weird party game. "Rinoa displays a good attitude and fully meets all the requirements of being a receptionist."

That sounded very managerial. Quistis couldn't get out of work mode, even at a weekend party.

"Rinoa is honest and cheerful, and she has totally cute clothes," Selphie said while pointing at Rinoa's outfit of a light blue sweater, a denim mini skirt, and black tights.

"I don't know if she does her job well, but her legs look good in a skirt," Seifer added with disinterest, wanting the game to be over. "And that's a plus."

"Seifer!" Quistis said loudly, appalled but not surprised.

"Hey, what are you yelling at me for? Tilmitt commented on her appearance too," Seifer defended.

"Rinoa is cheerful with a big beautiful bright smile that lights up the room," Selphie said, trying to keep the game going.

"Maybe let's not focus on anything looks related," Quistis said.

More silence as people continued to think.

Squall licked his lips and decided to get his turn over with before Selphie put him on the spot. He tried to think about Rinoa's duties as answering phones at the receptionist desk. He opened up his mouth and took a pause before speaking. "Rinoa's phone voice is smooth and soothing," Squall said. Quistis side-eyed him and he felt his chest constrict. That didn't count as sexual harassment again, did it? "In a professional way," he added. He took a sip of soda and wished it were a beer. "It's nice for... the customers." He felt sweat prickling on his forehead. He felt like everybody was staring at him. "She has professional customer focused communication skills." He felt like he couldn't get enough air. "She's able to work independently and utilize available resources well."

Quistis' eyelids lowered to a normal level and she looked appeased. Squall started to relax. He avoided looking over in Rinoa's direction. He didn't want to know how she'd reacted to that one.

"Well, that was weird," Selphie said with a shrug. "Irvine you're next."

"Uh, she's punctual?" he added with a click of his tongue, not knowing if that was true or not.

"Good. Good. Zell your turn," Selphie said while she pointed finger guns at him.

"She was concerned when I was choking... so I guess... she's courteous of her co-workers..." Zell trailed off.

Selphie pointed at her neighbor Ami, who didn't even know Rinoa.

"I just met her, but Lenora seems nice?" Ami said with a small shrug.

"Her name is Rinoa, but good try," Selphie said. "Okay, and to end this. I'll go again," Selphie took a deep breath. "Rinoa is an enthusiastic team player," she smiled at her, "because she showed up to my party." She gave a double thumbs up.

More silence.

"Haha," Rinoa laughed while her arms were crossed over herself. "This was really nice, but I should be going."

Selphie jumped back slightly, completely surprised. Terror reflected in her eyes. It felt like Rinoa had just arrived.

"Oh, don't go. It feels like you just got here! Why don't you sleep over here tonight? I'll make you a bed. It'll give you a real good feel for being a roommate."

"Hey, you can't leave first," Seifer complained towards Rinoa. "This party was for you." He crossed his arms over his chest. "And I was planning on leaving the party first. I was only planning on staying for 45 minutes, tops. This was just a warm up to my real evening."

Selphie threw Seifer a dirty look.

"Yea Rinoa, don't leave just yet. I mean, Seifer can leave, but you can't," Selphie said. "Please, just make yourself comfortable and have a seat. Just try my couch, it's really soft."

Squall also didn't want Rinoa to leave yet. How could he get her to stay? He'd better say something.

"Yea. Sit down," Squall said, echoing Selphie's sentiment. "Can I get you a drink?" he asked in his most courteous tone.

"Um, sure," Rinoa answered.

Rinoa walked over to the couch and felt awkward as the center of attention and sat down. She stared at the blank TV before her. The black screen reflected her coworkers milling about. Selphie had gone back to the music player and started the music again. This time she put on soft piano music to entice Rinoa to stay longer. Within a minute Squall walked over to her and handed her a cup full of pink punch.

Squall thought that this would have been a great time to start a light conversation with her. He just had to pick an easygoing topic. Or any topic. Or open his mouth and say anything audible. His brain continued to betray him as he drew a complete blank.

"Thanks," Rinoa said to Squall. She sipped at the punch politely.

Squall mumbled something that Rinoa assumed meant, 'you're welcome,' but she wasn't sure. He hadn't really opened his mouth when he was making the sounds.

Squall stood before her and wondered if he could sit on the couch with her. Would that be too forward? Where else could he sit? He looked around. There weren't that many options. Maybe it'd be okay if he sat far enough away that he wasn't crowding her personal space.

Squall sat down at the far end of the couch. He looked down at his knees and tapped his fingers on the armrest.

"Nice punch," Squall finally said as his hair fell into his eyes.

Rinoa looked at him and noticed he wasn't drinking anything. "Did you already try it?" she asked with her eyebrows raised.

"No."

"But you said it was nice."

"Oh, I didn't mean 'nice punch' with a period after it. I meant 'nice punch' with a question mark after it," he said while drawing a question mark in the air with his finger. He then started tapping his fingers on the armrest.

"So you were asking me a question?" she tried to clarify while pointing at her own chest.

"Uh, sure."

Rinoa gave him a hard look and tried to not laugh at him. She wasn't sure if he was trying to be funny or not.

"Well, in answer to your question, it's nice," she said. "If you really like sweet things." She took a deep breath. "Do you like sweet things?" she asked Squall in a sugary sweet voice. "Question mark," she added with a bat of her eyelashes as she leaned towards him on the couch.

Was she making fun of him? And what the hell was she doing with her voice? It sounded equal parts cutesy annoying and weirdly hot. What was wrong with him? Squall felt his ears getting warm. He bet they were red. He hoped his hair was covering them. He gave her a light nod of the head, then half of a head shake. Then a shrug. This conversation was killing him. She probably thought he was the world's biggest moron.

"Hey, do you guys want to play a fun party game?" Selphie asked loudly as she pranced to the middle of the room, ending the awkward conversation between Squall and Rinoa. "I've got all kinds of board games, but I feel that the best party games, are the ones you make up right on the spot. So how about we all..."

They didn't learn what brand new party game she was about to invent because the door started to creak. Then it swung open. A large figure emerged through the doorway. Everybody froze at the intrusion. One of the biggest and burliest men they'd ever seen had entered Selphie's apartment. He was even taller than Seifer. And he certainly didn't work at Phoenix Industries.

Was this a burglary? Didn't those usually happen when the occupants were either asleep or not at home?

"Hey, how's it going?" Gladio asked. "Is this the sort of party anyone can join?"

Okay, so maybe he was a party crashing guy and not a burglar. He wasn't going to commit a felony. Maybe.

"WHO the _FUDGE_ are you?!" Selphie asked angrily. "And what are you doing in my apartment?" She stuck her pointer finger out at him accusatorially while slowing advancing on him like he was a large dangerous animal.

"I heard a party going on and the door was unlocked, so..." Gladio trailed off. Actually he'd followed Rinoa here and it was just his luck that the front door had been propped open with a rock. And Selphie's door was unlocked too and had a party sign on it. Was everybody in Balamb this trusting and lo-fi? He would have a talk with Rinoa to make sure she knew to lock her doors. Basic safety protocol.

Selphie stared at the intruder. She couldn't believe this guy. How dare he?! This was Selphie's party. Selphie's very well planned and well decorated party that was for Rinoa, her new best friend and possible future roommate. This wasn't a backyard kegger with red solo cups that was attended by dudes wearing backward baseball hats who took seven years to attain a four year degree. Nor was this some dude-bro tailgating party where everybody drank cheap canned beers out of a Coleman cooler full of half melted ice.

Selphie had been to some bad parties.

She pursed her lips and exhaled loudly through her flared nostrils. Her teeth ground together. She was going to explode.

"This isn't some drunk frat boy party that _anybody_ can come to. This is an INVITATION only party because we're civilized people here," Selphie fumed. "If you didn't get handed a little invitation with your name written on it in calligraphy, you're not invited and therefore not welcome."

Gladio raised his thick eyebrows at her. He did not expect such a little stick figure of a girl to be so fiery and full of angry energy. She looked like she might climb him like a tree and start clawing his face off. She reminded him of a hot and crazy girlfriend he'd had once. Except this little stick figure girl wasn't bleach blonde, she was much shorter, and he personally didn't think she was that hot.

"I didn't get an invitation," Ami said quietly, feeling guilty.

Selphie turned towards her with a smile. "Your invitation was a verbal agreement, therefore you're welcome here." She turned back towards Gladio. "But you're NOT!"

Gladio was sensing a lot of hostility from the hostess. Maybe he was going to have to cut this visit short. But first he had to look around the party to see if there was anything uncouth to report back to Caraway. He saw colored streamers, balloons, a giant decorative bowl filled with bright pink punch and a bunch of socially awkward nerds standing around. There was absolutely nothing of interest to report to Caraway about. He was actually disappointed. When he found out Rinoa was going out to a party this weekend, he envisioned freely flowing alcohol and girls gone wild. This was a tame party, he didn't need to stay here and babysit Rinoa. She couldn't get in trouble here if she tried.

Maybe he should leave before he was forced to play some kind of shouting word game. He hated those. Not that the hostess seemed willing to let him stay.

But quite honestly he was also somewhat hurt by her attitude towards him. Most other people welcomed him into their midst. He was a fun guy. Who wouldn't want to hang out with him? And not to sound egotistical, but he thought he was very good looking too. He was certainly taller and more muscular than most. He felt that he was eye catching and he'd imagined himself to be a ladies' man. Well, this lady sure didn't like him. Actually Rinoa didn't like him much either, but she was his blood relative, so he didn't care.

Actually he didn't know why he cared at all. These people weren't his people. He was going to go back to Galbadia eventually when he'd fully proven to Caraway that Rinoa was safe. All he had to do was wait this mission out until Caraway was satisfied. Then he could leave this tiny island full of boring people. Until then, he was just doing his job, and he did it for tonight. He could leave now. And maybe if he left right now he could find bar in Balamb to suit his need for alcohol fueled mayhem, or at least something with a better vibe than an eight year old girl's birthday party.

With that in mind, Gladio decided to leave. He pushed some of his thick dark hair out of his eyes while he started to turn. But then his shoulders tensed for a moment. He stopped. Something didn't feel right. He looked up and searched the room for danger. His eyes fell on a tall blond standing at the back who'd been quietly appraising his party crashing. Gladio hadn't seen him at first because the blond was lingering in the darkened door frame of a bedroom. Now that the blond had taken a curious step forward into the light, Gladio saw his glinting green eyes narrowing at him like a predator readying to strike.

Gladio stopped in his tracks. He did not like the look of that guy. He didn't look like a nonthreatening nerd. He was tall and fit with piercing eyes and an arrogant smirk. The smirk alone made Gladio want to punch him in his chiseled pretty boy jaw. And if Gladio already couldn't stand him, Caraway would hate him worse. And for good reason. Women liked guys like that, and guys like that could do some damage. Gladio sensed a top quality trouble maker. Maybe Rinoa wasn't so safe after all.

He still had a job to do. He wouldn't fail General Caraway.

"I'm staying," Gladio announced. He walked over to the couch where Rinoa was seated and plopped down, immune to Selphie's death stare. He turned to Rinoa. "Is that okay with you?" he challenged. Rinoa's eyes narrowed at him. He fought the urge to put his big arm over his little cousin's shoulders and give her a noogie. He then halfway gave into that urge and slung his arm over the back of the couch behind Rinoa's head.

Selphie's eyebrows rose in alarm and her nostrils flared. She did not like this turn of events. She'd never had a party crasher before, and she'd never had somebody burst into her apartment unannounced before either. And she certainly didn't like how close Mr. Party Crasher was sitting to Rinoa.

Selphie's leg shook with nervous energy that wanted to be released. What should she do? She tried to think.

Rinoa. Rinoa. Rinoa. Poor Rinoa. Selphie had thrown this party to welcome her to both her new workplace and her new town. And this guy was going to mess that up. A sense of determination came over Selphie. Rinoa was _her_ guest of honor and she was the hostess. She felt duty bound to protect her. She _had_ to get him to leave before this guy messed up the party. And Selphie feared he was going to get his creepy dude-bro man germs all over her. She noticed that Rinoa's head was nearly right in his giant armpit. It was probably an old spice swamp over there. Gross.

Selphie marched over to the front of the couch and nearly knocked the coffee table aside. She stuck her finger towards Gladio. "Don't you mess with her!" She pointed to indicate Rinoa. "She's my guest of honor and... and... and..." she trailed off not knowing what she'd say. Her eyes frantically searched the room for inspiration. All she saw were colorful balloons and the horrified faces of her coworkers. Then her eyes settled on Squall who was quietly seated on the other end of the couch, right next to Gladio.

Sometimes the answer was right in front of you.

"I wouldn't sit there like that if I were you. You're going to tick off her boyfriend over there," she said while pointing directly at Squall. As she said it, she felt a certain sense of rightness. This was a brilliant idea she told herself. She didn't know why she hadn't thought of it immediately. This guy would be embarrassed that the girl he was paying attention to already had a boyfriend. Maybe he'd just leave them all alone then. But maybe she should make him leave even faster. Really give him some incentive. Maybe she could make Squall sound dangerous and super scary. "Don't make him angry or he'll kick your _butt_ ," she said threateningly.

Gladio's eyebrows raised as he turned to look at Squall. He'd previously not even noticed his presence. He was so quiet and was blending in with the background

"He's consumed with jealousy all the time," Selphie elaborated while clenching her fists. "You'll make him nuts if you don't leave." She took a pause. "Immediately!" she added for good measure. "Don't say I didn't warn you!" She clapped her hands together trying to frighten him away like a stray cat.

Selphie then turned towards Quistis and mouthed, 'get ready to call the police.'

Squall sat there wondering why Selphie just pitted him against 'Angelo,' a muscular monster of a man. Was she trying to get him killed?

Gladio turned to look over at Squall when Selphie mentioned the word 'boyfriend.' Now that was something Caraway would want to know about. He was relieved that the tall blond was not the one being labeled as her boyfriend. The blond looked like trouble with a capital T. This other guy seemed bland in comparison. He had average brown hair, an average height, and seemed very quiet. And he'd done nothing at Gladio's intrusion in this party. He didn't look very reactive. Gladio tried to take a quick glance into his eyes, but he couldn't read anything. They were cool and oddly detached, but he felt for a second that there was something being hidden behind them. Overall he didn't _look_ threatening, but Gladio knew looks could be deceiving. He'd file this 'boyfriend' information away for later, even if it sounded suspiciously made up by little-miss-party-pixie.

Irvine felt that somebody needed to step up and smooth over this mess. What was everybody so worked up about? It was just one more person at a party. Maybe the guy was just lonely. He couldn't help it that he looked so scary. Well, the tattoos were a definite life decision, but he couldn't help being that tall. Irvine knew that from his own experience as a tall and gangly teenager.

"What she's trying to say is that maybe you'd feel more comfortable somewhere else," Irvine said while stepping forward with what he hoped was a friendly and disarming smile. "I'm sure you could find someplace more exciting than this little shindig."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Selphie asked turning her explosive rage towards Irvine.

"He's clearly not in his element here. This is just a little friendly party between coworkers," Irvine said.

Squall stood up quickly as he sensed Rinoa's agitation building. Her back had gone rigid when 'Angelo' had plopped down next to her. She was digging her nails into the tops of her thighs and her nostrils were flared. She was in distress. He'd spent a lot of time imagining what he'd do in a situation like this, and now he wasn't reacting at all. He should do something. Irvine's distraction seemed a good time to make his move.

"I'll drive you home if you want," Squall offered quickly to Rinoa.

Rinoa slapped the top of her thighs while she jumped up off the couch. "Fine." She couldn't wait to get out of there since the second she'd seen Gladio.

Squall had not expected her to go along with him so quickly.

She glared down at Gladio. "My _boyfriend_ is going to escort me home." She gave him a fake smile that bared her teeth.

"Oh, please don't go Rinoa. I'm sorry this weirdo upset you. I'll make sure to lock my doors next time. We'll get him to leave. Don't let this make you think my building isn't a safe place to live! It's normally a great place for two single girls to live as roommates."

"Thanks Selphie. This party was really sweet, but I'm not feeling so great. I'm going to get going. See you at work."

Selphie sadly felt Rinoa's resolution. She gave up on making her stay, so she ran and grabbed a balloon bundle and shoved it towards Rinoa. "This is for you."

"But?" Rinoa started.

"It's a present. One month anniversary present."

Rinoa relented and accepted the bundle of bouncing balloons. She grabbed Squall by the arm and left without a backwards glance at anybody else. The door slammed shut after them.

"Maybe I'll get going too," Quistis offered.

"Yea, I was going to say that," Seifer said while glancing down at Gladio sitting alone on Selphie's couch. He didn't want to come that much anyways, and now was a good time to leave. He had other friends to meet up with tonight. He'd promised to see them later.

Seifer and Quistis started moving towards the door with Irvine right behind. Ami decided to go with the flow and go back to her apartment now that everybody else was leaving.

Selphie's party was swirling down the drain. All because of this party crasher. It was over before it really had started to get good. She was filled with rage at him, but also a small amount of fear. He was a muscular behemoth of a man. Maybe she was going to have to call the police herself.

As her remaining party guests started shuffling towards the door with mumbled words of thanks she turned towards Zell. "Please don't leave me alone with him," Selphie pleaded.

Zell looked over at Gladio not knowing what to do. Then his face lit up. "Hey man, where do you work out? You've got killer muscle tone. I'm jealous." Zell smiled up at him in awe. He was everything Zell wanted to be. Tall, muscular, and tattooed.

Gladio gave him a broad smile. Now that was a topic he loved talking about. Maybe the short blond nerd had some potential in him. "No need to be jealous. If you're willing to put in the work, you can get results like this too," Gladio started. "Physical fitness isn't just about exercise, it's a total mindset. It's a total commitment. I have some pamphlets in my car for a gym by me where innovation and camaraderie combine in order to..."

Selphie grabbed at the ends of her hair and pulled. She tuned out their conversation as her lively spirit deflated. Now she was never going to get either of them to leave.

End of Chapter

Author's notes: This chapter was getting so long. I had to break it up into another part. Squall and Rinoa coming up next. Please read and review.


	14. Chapter 14: Ride On

Chapter 14 - Ride On

* * *

Rinoa walked out into the dark and cold parking lot, trying to handle the balloons that were straining against the multicolored ribbons she held in her hand. A gust of wind blew and chilled her, while some wisps of hair danced across her face. She switched the bundle from one hand to another to push away her hair.

A balloon wiggled free and flew away. She looked up and saw it quickly disappearing into the dark night sky. Another few moments and she wouldn't even be able to see it. She wished she could disappear that quickly and easily, just fly up into the boundless stars.

Rinoa sighed. "That's not good for the environment. I hope it doesn't eventually," she paused while in thought, "choke a dolphin or something." Squall opened the passenger door for her, and she climbed into his car.

"Dolphins are smart," Squall responded. "They'll be fine."

 _The turtles better watch out though,_ Squall added silently to himself as he shut the door.

Squall put on his jacket and slid into the driver's seat. He made sure they were both belted in before he started the ignition. He couldn't see Rinoa's face because the bundle of balloons had come loose and were freely mingling inside his car. He pushed some away with his hand and they bounced noisily against the ceiling. The ribbons hung between them like a flimsy curtain.

"Where am I taking you?" he asked.

"Anywhere, but here," Rinoa responded.

"Not going to be Selphie's roommate then?" he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot, not really sure which direction he should even head. It was still early in the evening, and it was a nice night if you didn't mind the cold. Squall had never minded the cold as much as other people. Maybe he could head towards the ocean for a joyride while Rinoa calmed herself.

"Definitely not tonight," she said clearly repulsed. "Selphie can be a roommate with GAH..." she had opened her mouth to say Gladio's name, but then stuttered and shut it quickly. "With that g-guy," she tried to correct herself.

 _She was about to say his name,_ Squall thought. But then a sudden shock took him. She hadn't started to say Angelo. She had started to say another name. Another alarm went off in his head. Selphie didn't recognize the intruder at all. And didn't this all start when Squall heard her gushing over a photo of a guy named Angelo all those weeks ago? If Selphie didn't recognize him, then he wasn't Angelo.

Then who was he?

All Squall really knew was that Rinoa definitely knew him and she seemed very uncomfortable with him. But why did he keep showing up around Rinoa? Why didn't Rinoa acknowledge that she knew him? Was she in danger?

As Squall cruised along the Rinauld Coast Highway, he could see the white capped waves near the beach. The methodical rhythm could make it seem like time stood still, if you let it. The car cruised on, bright headlights illuminating the smooth pavement before them. Rinoa made no attempts to tell him where he should take her. She looked out the window at the ocean, lost in her own private thoughts.

Squall wished she'd share them with him.

She leaned her head against the window and sighed.

"Do you know that guy?" Squall finally ventured to ask, trying to keep emotion out of his voice.

"No," Rinoa responded immediately while sitting up. She started chewing her bottom lip and looked at her nails attentively. He could hear her take a gulp.

Her body language told him that she was lying to him. It also told him that she was bad at lying.

Squall wondered why she was lying to him. Was she scared for her safety? It had to be something along those lines because he didn't want to believe she was a liar. He'd already put her on an imaginary pedestal and it'd hurt him to know she was a liar. If she was telling a lie, it had to be for a good reason. Should he call her out on it? He could help her if she was in trouble.

Or maybe he should just leave it alone. She was a near stranger, and she could do what she liked with anybody she liked. Yes, he should leave it alone.

"I saw you with him at the park," Squall said before he could stop himself.

She stopped fiddling with her fingers and stared straight ahead. He could hear her take a deep breath.

"It's none of your business who I," Rinoa started. She crossed her arms over herself. She didn't like the idea that he'd been watching her without her knowledge. She knew she had been in a public park, and Balamb wasn't a big place, but still. It was unsettling. Were all men like Caraway? She wrapped her hand around the shoulder strap of her seatbelt and gave it an agonizing squeeze. She just wanted to break free.

Squall glanced at her out of the side of his vision. She was squirming in his car. He felt like he'd pushed her too much. He didn't want to be another guy who was causing her distress. He didn't want to be like not-Angelo, whatever his name was.

"I don't care about your..." Squall started and then he stopped. He didn't actually want to say _lie_. That was too close to calling her a liar. And that wasn't the point. "I care about," he started again, but then soon stopped. Squall was about to say 'you,' but he couldn't say that either. "I'm worried." His hands gripped the steering wheel harder while he watched the road in front of him. "If you're in some kind of trouble, there are organizations to help people." He paused. "People who are in domestic situations." He was becoming more and more uncomfortable. "Abuse."

Rinoa turned herself abruptly in her seat and leaned towards him. The shoulder belt strained against her. "I'm not a victim."

"I didn't say you were," Squall said. "I just..."

"I'm not in a 'domestic situation' either." Rinoa snorted and wondered what exactly he meant by that.

Squall was glad to hear that, but he had a lot of unanswered questions. Questions he wasn't allowed to ask. What was it to him who Rinoa met up with? Why should he be concerned with what she did outside of work? They were just coworkers.

"I just want to make sure you're safe," Squall said. He figured that was an appropriate thing to say. He could show some general and appropriate concern.

"Why does everybody assume I'm not safe?!" Rinoa said with force, causing Squall's shoulders to tense.

Oops, wrong thing to say. She was getting worked up. She slammed herself back into her seat and looked up at the ceiling with a strangled sigh. Balloons bounced around some more.

 _Because I've seen you repeatedly followed by a giant lunking tattooed meathead who looks like he could bench my car,_ Squall thought internally. _And you look uncomfortable and are hiding something._

"I'm not living wildly, and partying it up," Rinoa continued. "I have a steady job in a safe neighborhood. I lock my doors. I have Angelo, my big and well trained dog to protect me. I've covered all my bases."

Squall's ears immediately heard what she said, but it took his brain at least five seconds to properly process it. Five long seconds of lag time.

He gripped the steering wheel. _ANGELO IS THE DOG!_ Squall screamed internally. _ANGELO IS THE DOG!_

"So you don't have to be my dad or my mom," she continued, unaware of Squall's inner thoughts.

 _Her longtime companion is a dog. I've been jealous of a dog._ He could have laughed. _I'm a moron._ He nearly smiled with relief. He was happy to be a moron if it meant that Rinoa wasn't attached to that giant guy. How did he think a guy like that would be her longtime companion? She clearly couldn't stand him. Rinoa wouldn't ever date a huge jerk of a guy like that. Rinoa had higher standards. She wouldn't be swayed by a tall muscular guy just because he was confident. Rinoa Heartilly wouldn't ever do that. Never.

"I'm not your mom," Squall whispered, trying to keep up with whatever she was saying.

 _THE DOG!_ It echoed through his head. How could he have been so stupid to think Angelo was that big meathead?

 _Wait! Then who WAS that guy?_ Squall thought. _And what is his relationship to Rinoa?_

"You know what? Just pull over the car," Rinoa demanded. "I want out."

"Wait, what?" Squall said suddenly, his head turning away from the road to look at Rinoa. Her teeth were clenched together in frustration. They kept coasting along the darkened highway like they were hurtling through space.

"Now!" Rinoa yelled with force, in a tone that defied argument. She stomped her foot on an imaginary passenger side brake.

Squall pulled onto the shoulder of the highway, instantly obeying her command. He pulled off to the side of the road as far as he could go. He didn't know what she was doing. Did she think she was going to walk all the way home right now? They were in the middle of nowhere by the beach. It was dark and cold. And once again, she hadn't brought a jacket tonight, or maybe she'd left it at Selphie's place.

Rinoa started exiting the car before Squall had even rolled to a complete stop. She stormed out and hopped over the metal guardrail and dropped down into the grass and sand on the other side with a thud. She marched towards the dark ocean.

Squall's heart lurched in his chest. He hurried out of his car and vaulted over the guardrail to catch up with her. It was a good thing he exercised so much. He landed lightly and kept his balance on the soft and sandy surface.

"Wait!" he called with his hand out. He didn't know what she was doing. He had to stop her.

She stopped abruptly and turned to glare at him.

"I'm sorry," he supplied, palms outward. His eyes widened in desperation.

Rinoa glanced up at Squall's face and some of her hot anger melted away in the chilliness of the evening. His pale smooth skin was halfway hidden by the shadows of his hair and she was startled by how handsome he seemed in the moonlight. Right now he looked younger than he appeared during the workweek. He seemed out of context here on the beach, but it highlighted things in him that she didn't notice at the office under those harsh florescent lights. Her eyes softened at him, then she turned her face towards the rolling and relentless ocean waves as they crashed onto the shore.

"For what?" she asked.

 _Huh?_ Squall thought to himself.

Squall honestly didn't know what he'd be sorry for. It had seemed the sort of thing he should say to make her stop walking into the cold dark ocean, or whatever she was doing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't intend to upset you." He ran both hands through his hair, roughing up the top and then raking it back towards the nape of his neck. "Please don't feel like you have to walk all the way home on my account."

She let out a laugh. She hadn't planned on doing that. Actually she hadn't planned on doing anything at all when she jumped out of Squall's car. She wasn't the best at making plans, a lifetime of following other people's plans for her hadn't given her room to exercise that skill. Nowadays, she usually improvised as she went along. She'd just been overwhelmed with frustration.

"I just needed some fresh air. Needed to clear my head," she said as she took another sideways peek at Squall. She smiled at the disheveled state of his hair and the look of consternation on his face. It was a cute look and it suited him. "Can I have a few moments out here to just breathe, if you don't mind?"

"Sure," Squall answered, relieved that she wasn't going to insist on walking along a cold highway at night. His heart had been racing again. He needed to calm down too.

She turned to smile at him briefly before turning back towards the ocean. While she stood in shared silence with Squall, he noticed that she was starting to shiver. Her arms were wrapped around herself tightly, and she dug her feet down into the sand. He stood in his warm fur lined jacket and felt like a cad. He should do something.

"I'll be back in a second," Squall said as he turned towards his car. He turned back towards her and gave her a direct look. "Don't do anything."

Rinoa looked at him as he walked away. He went to his car and started rooting around in his trunk. When he came back he handed her a large rolled up gray blanket. It wasn't the softest blanket, but it was most likely warm. A very utilitarian choice.

"You keep blankets in your car?" she asked. "Do you take girls out to deserted stretches of beach often?"

Squall's eyebrows lifted in shock. Then he narrowed his eyes at her sharply. "First off, you were the one who made me pull over here. Secondly, it's always a good idea to have a few emergency supplies in the trunk."

Rinoa smiled at his response. Why was he so much fun to rile up? "What sort of emergency?" she asked while tipping her head to the side.

"If your car breaks down," he offered seriously. "You wouldn't want to be stuck in a cold car for any length of time while waiting for assistance to arrive."

"Oh, I get it," she said. He nodded at her in agreement, but then she continued. "An emergency backseat snuggle to keep warm, after your car has 'broken down' while taking an unsuspecting girl home," she said while doing air quotes with one hand. She smiled and balanced the blanket roll in her other hand.

Squall stared at her for a moment in disbelief, not liking the teasing. One moment she was genuinely angry and now she was trying to playful provoke him while pretending to be cute about it. It was irritating. He was just trying to help her not freeze to death.

He took a deep inhale of air and then his arm shot out to retake his blanket. Rinoa was shocked at the sudden movement. She instinctively held on, her fingers digging into the scratchy material. He furrowed his brows and gave it another pull, but she pulled back. They looked each other in the eyes.

"Let go of my emergency blanket," Squall said.

"No, I'm cold."

"That's not my fault. Next time plan ahead."

"But I'm cold now."

That wasn't the best argument, but her eyes sparkled at him and her mouth twitched to the side as she said it. She licked and bit her lip, waiting for another response from him. Squall had to admit to himself that she looked mischievously cute, but was she making fun of him? He noticed their hands were practically touching as they each held onto the blanket roll.

Wait, was she flirting with him?

Squall let go. She stumbled backwards in the sand with the blanket becoming unrolled around her.

He pretended that everything was normal and stared back at the ocean. "Keep warm," he said, as if he hadn't just gotten into a juvenile tug-of-war with the girl he had a workplace crush on. Wait, not girl. She was a woman. A sometimes childish sort of young woman, but still a woman.

She smiled up at him, but he didn't turn his face towards her. She wrapped the blanket around herself, and it was bigger than it initially seemed. He must have rolled it very tight. She noticed it was big enough for two people. She looked over at Squall, but he kept his face turned away from her. After a moment's thought, she wrapped it around herself twice and snuggled in.

"Ocean's nice," she said while inhaling a lungful of salty air.

He let out a muffled sound in response.

"Yea," she said, "real nice." She breathed out audibly. "Fresh." She continued to breath in and out, savoring the night air in an exaggerated way. She hoped Squall would say something, but he didn't. She waited and waited, and then gave up hope of any sort of fun conversation with him after several long minutes of silence. Well, it was silence if you didn't count her loud breathing.

"Ah, much better, my head feels clearer. I'm sufficiently relaxed. Could you please take me home now?"

Squall nodded at her. "But you have to agree to one of my rules first."

Rinoa looked at him with her head tilting to the side, wondering what sort of rules he had. She figured he had a lot, but at least he was talking now.

"Don't jump out of my car again," he said.

"I'll try." She laughed. That sounded reasonable. "Sometimes I just get frustrated when people think they know me." She turned towards him. "When they _don't_." She added an unnatural amount of emphasis on the last word.

Squall was hurt, but didn't show it. Yes, he didn't know her. He didn't know much of anything about her other than she was attractive. But he still bristled at her comment that was directed towards him. His patience was wearing thin.

"You're right, I don't know you. Why would anybody come out to little Balamb from huge Galbadia for an entry level job in our little office?"

Rinoa turned to him and opened her mouth to speak, but she shut it.

"And why would a strange man be crossing your path so often?"

Her eyebrows drew together and she bit her lip. Was this guy an amateur detective or something? Why was he so curious about her life?

Rinoa wished she could just tell him the answers to his questions, but she feared sounding stupid. She really didn't want to stand on a windswept beach at night and tell her handsome coworker that the dark and mysterious man that was following her was her overgrown cousin. And she really didn't want to tell him that her cousin was being paid to keep an eye on her by General Caraway, her overprotective and controlling father. It sounded so stupid, and it made her feel so small. She'd rather have him wonder about her. He could make up an interesting backstory for her in his head. Anything would be better than the truth.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," she said, hoping it sounded mysterious. She raised her eyebrows in an attempt at a challenging stare.

He looked into her face without responding. The moonlight was making her face look even paler against her dark hair. Her nose was tipped pink with cold.

"But I'm not in an abusive domestic situation," she mumbled under her breath.

"I was just trying to look out for you."

"I don't need looking out for!" she responded, trying to sound like the adult she wanted to be.

"So if you just keep walking into the ocean at night, you want me to do nothing about it," he said it as a statement. He'd never let that happen, no matter what she said she wanted.

"I wouldn't do that," Rinoa said. Did he think she was crazy?

"I don't know what you'd do. Because as you said, I don't know you. But I saw you jump out of my car and march towards the ocean without much warning. Should I have stayed in my car and driven away?"

Rinoa thought to herself. She certainly didn't want him to just leave her there. She'd just wanted to clear her head. She supposed she'd done it in an unnecessarily dramatic way, and she'd assumed that he'd stay and indulge her. She hadn't thought he'd challenge her on it. He'd seemed so mild at work and at the party, at least usually. He seemed to turn into a different person when other people weren't around. He got talkative when they were one-on-one. He felt free to say what he felt. She liked this side of him, but she also didn't. She wasn't sure what to think.

"No. You should stay." She turned back towards the dark ocean. "It's nice to clear your head sometimes." She breathed. "But I don't need you to look out for me. I don't need to be rescued," Rinoa said. "You don't need to be..." she tried to think of a good word, but couldn't, "... a rescuer."

"I didn't say anything about rescuing." Squall stared out at the ocean. He just didn't want to stand idly by when somebody was in trouble. "But if we are keeping track, I did give you my jacket before. Not quite a rescue, but I offered you some help. And I gave Zell the Heimlich Maneuver in the break room. That actually _was_ a rescue. And I covered for you when Quistis questioned me about what happened in the break room before."

Rinoa turned towards him. Her eyes searched his face, but he gave away nothing by his expression. She couldn't think of what he was referencing. What happened between them in the break room?

Squall looked at Rinoa. He could tell she was trying to recall the incident he'd mentioned. He couldn't believe she'd forgotten it. Although he was more likely to remember hot coffee being splashed on his crotch than she would. He also couldn't forget Quistis chewing him out and making him take a sexual harassment training session because of it.

Rinoa leaned towards him. "What happened in the break room between us?" she asked in a whisper.

Squall turned and looked back over his shoulder. He checked to make his car was okay, but he also wanted to hide the look on his face. Sometimes he couldn't believe this person.

"You spilled hot coffee all over my..." he took a pause, "pants." He gestured towards himself.

Rinoa's eyes darted down towards his crotch. She'd forgotten about that!

"That was an accident!" she yelled, wanted to defend herself. Was he keeping a list of all her shortcomings?

"Some accidents happen by chance," he said while nodding his head. "Those sorts of accidents can happen to anybody." He was starting to feel bolder out here in the dark with her.

Rinoa was placated by his admission. He didn't hold it against her. It could have happened to anybody.

"And some accidents happen due to carelessness," Squall continued, apparently not done yet with his train of thought. "And those sorts of accidents happen in higher frequency around certain individuals."

Rinoa's face spun towards him. "Are you calling me a careless disaster magnet?"

Magnet? She was a magnet for something. He said nothing, but shrugged.

"And before we go further. Did you say you had to cover for me in front of Manager Trepe?" Rinoa asked.

"Yes."

Rinoa turned fully towards him and shifted her body weight. She awaited a further explanation. Squall was not forthcoming with details. She leaned forward and pushed on his arm, trying to prompt him to speak.

Squall kept his eyes on the ocean while he started to speak. "When Quistis walked in and saw me with my shirt half off, my clothes soaked, and you running out while flustered." What could Squall say. "It didn't look good. But I didn't want to say anything negative about a new hire, so I just let her assume whatever she wanted to. I ended up having to take a sexual harassment training session on my own time."

Rinoa blinked her eyes at him. This was news to her. She started to imagine the bizarre scenario between Squall and Quistis. And it was all because of a silly little break room mishap. And it was completely innocent too! It all seemed so funny and Rinoa started to shake with laughter.

Squall turned towards her. His eyebrows pulled together in frustration. "Why are you laughing?"

"What did she think I did to you?" she asked.

"She didn't think you did anything to me. She thought I'd done something to YOU!" Squall responded.

Rinoa laughed and a soft snort escaped her accidentally.

"And you covered for me? Even though you could have just given a simple explanation. Maybe you are Mr. Rescuer." She smiled at him. "You really like doing things the hard way don't you? But you know what Squall? I think you're a pretty good guy. Very trustworthy and noble. Discreet. Helpful."

Squall liked the sound of that. Mostly.

She turned towards him, her eyes flashing in all seriousness. "Can you help me get rid of Gladio?"

Squall looked into her face.

"Who?"

"I'll tell you on the ride back. Let's get going. This blanket is nice and all, but I'm not really dressed for staying out here so long," she explained.

Squall turned to hurry back to his car, eager to get more information. And even with his coat on, he'd been getting chilled too.

Their feet crunched through sand and dry grass at a quick pace. When they got back to the embankment he grabbed the metal guardrail and jumped up. Then he turned around and extended his hand to pull her up. She scrambled up with his help before hurrying to get inside his car. When they'd both fastened their seatbelts, Rinoa laid the blanket over her lap and started shivering.

"Hurry up and turn on the heat. I'm freezing," she told him. The dampness of the ocean breeze had soaked down into her bones. What had she been thinking marching towards the ocean like that?

Squall put his key in the ignition and turned.

Nothing.

The car wouldn't start.

End of Chapter 14


End file.
